national policy - Instituto Humboldt

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE) Republic of Colombia MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (MINISTERIO DE AMBIENTE Y DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE)

We would like to thank all the persons and institutions which participated in the whole process of formulating this policy English translation:

Jimmy Weiskopf ISBN:

978-958-8343-80-8

L ibertad

y O rd e n

TABLE OF CONTENTS

6

INTRODUCTION

10

LEGAL, REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND

26

IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY FOR COLOMBIA

36

POLICY APPROACH

48

STRATEGIC DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY

80

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

88

PROCESS OF FORMULATING THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (PANGIBSE)

90

FOLLOW-UP, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

98

BIBLIOGRAPHY

110 GLOSSARY 119 ANNEX 1 –DIAGRAM OF THE RELATIONS FOR THE ACTION OF THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY, ON A NATIONAL SCALE 120 ANNEX 2 – DIAGRAM OF THE RELATIONS FOR THE ACTION OF THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY, ON A NATIONAL SCALE (Sectorial Aspects) 121 ANNEX 3 – PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

INTRODUCTION

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

In recent decades, biodiversity has won a growing recognition, not only as an expression of the different forms of life present on the planet but also as the foundation of the well-being and quality of life of human beings. In this latter respect, society has come to better understand the direct relationship between biodiversity and human health and development, as well as human security and culture (UNEP 2007). These benefits which derive from biodiversity are known as ecosystemic services. The provision and maintenance of these services are indispensable to the survival of human life on the planet, something which is only possible if the structure and functioning of biodiversity are guaranteed (MEA 2005).

is a signatory, establishes the need for each party to design and permanently revise its public policies on the subject and adopt concrete mechanisms for protecting biodiversity. Meanwhile, it has become necessary to adjust the national policy framework to the new Action Plan 2011-2020 of the CBD, so that it efficiently aids compliance with the Aichi Targets for reducing the rates of the loss of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services.

In line with this challenge, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS), through the Forests, Biodiversity and Ecosystemic Services Directorate of the Vice-Ministry of Environment, proposed undertaking and leading a Different countries have been underta- participatory policy for the review and updating of king countless initiatives and efforts to conserve and the National Biodiversity Policy. The result of this appraise their biodiversity, with the aim of preventing process, which convoked Colombians from diffeand controlling its accelerated loss and transforma- rent entities, sectors, trade bodies and organizations tion, as well as reduce and mitigate the negative effects engaged in this subject, has been the drafting of this which this has on the quality of life. Colombia has not document, which contains an up to date version of been the exception and in 1996 formulated a National a policy that will allow for an integral management Biodiversity Action Plan (PNB), an effort which was of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, while it complemented by the Technical Proposal for the also promotes social and sectorial co-responsibility in Formulation of a National Biodiversity Action Plan: scenarios of changing socio-ecological systems and Colombian Biodiversity in the 21st Century (1998), the positioning of biodiversity and its ecosystemic which, without being an official document, was a guide services as a public value. for institutional work on the topic. This process advanced after 2008 and The lessons the country has learned after counted on the support of the Javeriana University of more than 15 years of management guided by this Bogota (Faculty of Environmental and Rural Studies) National Biodiversity Plan, the development of new concepts and schemes related to this subject and the and the German Agency for International Coopeneed to incorporate an updated vision of the conflicts ration (GIZ), as well as the nearly 500 persons and and disagreements which affect the actors involved 190 institutions who participated throughout the in this enterprise have created the need to review process in consultation and construction workshops and update the Policy, in order to adjust it to the new and which included productive sectors; Afro-Colomconceptual trends and emerging challenges resul- bian, indigenous and peasant-farmer communities; ting from the global environmental change caused universities and institutions from the public and third by mankind. These 15 years have shown the need to sectors, among others. This policy was presented to promote a stronger linkage of this Policy with others of the National Environmental Council in July 2010 a sectorial character and also to ensure a greater social and all of its recommendations were accepted. Since and community participation in the country`s mana- then, the document has been improved, on the basis of a review by experts from the research institutes of gement of its biodiversity and ecosystemic services. the National Environmental System, the UAESPNN Additionally, article 6d of the Convention and the branches of the Ministry of Environment and on Biological Diversity (CBD), of which Colombia Sustainable Development, pending the reorganization 7

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

of the State begun in the middle of 2011, in order to have a document adjusted to the context of the new reality of the country`s institutional framework for the environment.

interaction between systems of preservation, restoration, sustainable use and the building of knowledge and information. Equally, the plan recognizes the strategic character of biodiversity as the foundation of our competitiveness and as a fundamental part of the wellWe thus present the National Policy for the being of Colombian society. The aspects which have Integral Management of Biodiversity and Its Ecosystemic received the most attention are guided by the conseServices (PNGIBSE), so that the flexibility of the socio- quent wish to insert flexibility into this management, ecological systems may be maintained and improved above all in order to open spaces for communication, on the national, regional, local and trans-frontier levels, cooperation and co-responsibility among the actors taking into account scenarios of change and through who, in different degrees, are responsible for the the joint, coordinated and concerted action of the State, country´s biodiversity. the productive sector and civil society. This means that Using this technical instrumentation, this Policy will be the one which will conceptually and we present a Policy document which, in its different strategically frame and guide all other environmental sections, deals with the subjects which are needed to management tools (policies, norms, plans, programs and projects), both existing and to be developed, for place the objective and strategic framework in context the conservation of biodiversity on its different levels and make them meaningful, in a manner that will of organization, as well as serve as the basis for inter- enable the country to conserve its biodiversity, face sectorial linkage and as a fundamental part of the up to manmade environmental change and maintain the resilience of its socio-ecological systems and thus country`s development. help to improve the well-being and quality of life of In this way the Plan sets forth a signifi- Colombians. In addition, the document establishes cant change in the form of biodiversity management, the relation between the strategic framework of the which is reflected in its conceptual development, as Policy and the fulfillment of the CBD´s Aichi Targets well as the strategic framework which has been cons- for the year 2020, as well as a set of actions which tructed. These changes imply, among other aspects, have a short-term priority (2014), to be undertaken the recognition of a management which allows for the by the country for the conservation of its biodiversity integral handling of closely related ecological and social and which are in full agreement with the actions and systems, as well as the conservation of biodiversity in goals proposed in the National Development Plan, the broad sense, that is, understood as the result of an 2010-2014: Prosperity for All.

8

LEGAL, REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

in the 1991 Colombian Constitution and Law 99 of 1993. The SINA is made up of the Ministry of Environment (now the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Decree 3570 of 2011), The Autonomous Regional Corporations, the Territorial Entities, the Research Institutes affiliated and linked with the Ministry, the university sector, the NGO´s, civil society and trade bodies. There is also the National Environmental Council, whose aim is to ensure the intersectorial coordination in the public ambit of policies, plans and programs for the field of the environment and renewable natural resources and advise the national government on the formulation of environmental policies (Figure 1).

With the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987 (“Our Common Future”), the world began to be aware of the need for sustainable development, a concept which is enshrined in Colombia´s 1991 Constitution and manifested itself in Law 99 of 1993, which, inspired by the agreements and commitments of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Summit on Environment and Development, created a new institutional framework for the Colombian environmental sector. There then emerged the National Environmental System (SINA), defined as the set of guidelines, norms, activities, resources, programs and institutions which allow for the implementation of the general environmental principles found

ORGANIZATION CHART OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM (SINA)

The social SINA

The institutional SINA

The territorial SINA

The trans-sectorial SINA

ECOFONDO and NGOs

CN National Environment Council

SDA Subdirectorate of Sustainable Environmental Development of the National Planning Council

Environmental units of the diﬀerent Ministries

Social Organizations Sectorial Trade Organizations

Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development

Territorial entities

Five research institutes and the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation (SNCT&I) 1 Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) 2 José Benito Vives de Andréi Institute of Marine and Coastal Research (INVEMAR) 3 Amazonian Institute of Scientiﬁc Research (SINCHI) 4 Paciﬁc Institute of Scientiﬁc Research (IIAP) 5 Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources

Organisms of Control of the SINA •Environmental Procurator •Defender of the People for environmental matters •Environmental Comptroller •Citizens´ Oversight Bodies •Environmental Police

• National Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (COLCIENCIAS) (Coordination of the SNCT&I)

UAESPNN Special Administrative Unit of the National Natural Parks System of Colombia ANLA National Environmental Licenses Authority

Figure 1. Chart of the National Environmental System (SINA). Law 99 of 1993

11

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

National Legal Framework currently in force With the 1991 Colombian Constitution, the country raised the management and protection of natural resources and the environment, biodiversity in other words, to the status of a constitutional norm, through an acknowledgment of the obligation of the State and the population to protect the cultural and natural wealth of the nation (Art. 8), ensure Colombians´ right to have a healthy environment (Art. 79), promote the use of sustainable development as the model for guiding economic growth and improve the quality of life and social welfare of the nation, without exhausting the natural resource base which upholds these rights, nor deteriorating the environ-

ment or jeopardizing the right of future generations to use it for the satisfaction of their own needs. The Constitution also clearly underlines the duty of the State with regard to the need to protect the diversity and integrity of the environment, conserve areas of special ecological importance and plan for a management and exploitation of natural resources which guarantees their sustainable development, conservation, renewal or replacement. Furthermore, in the management of biodiversity which the country has undertaken a number of general norms stand out which, in a direct or indirect way, have promoted the development of activities for the protection, use and management of biodiversity (Table 1).

Table 1. Main norms currently in force which regulate key aspects of biodiversity management and national environmental institutions. NORM Law 2 of 1959

SUBJECT On the Nation’s forestry economy and the conservation of renewable natural resources.

Decree-Law 2811 of 1974 National Code of Renewable and Non-renewable Natural Resources and Protection of the Environment. The environment is a shared heritage, the State and individuals must participate in its preservation and management, which are of public use and social interest. It regulates the management of renewable natural resources, the defense of the environment and its elements.

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Law 99 of 1993

Creates the Ministry of the Environment and organizes the National Environmental System (Sistema Nacional Ambiental -SINA). It reforms the public sector in charge of environmental management. It organizes the National Environmental System and requires the planning of the environmental management of projects. The principles that stand out and are related to port activities are: The definition of the foundations of environmental policy, the structure of the SINA headed by the Ministry of the Environment, environmental licensing procedures as a requisite for the implementation of projects or activities that may cause harm to the environment and mechanisms of citizens´ participation in all stages of the development of these types of projects.

Law 388 of 1997

Municipal and District Territorial Ordering and Territorial Ordering Plans

Law 1333 of 2009

Establishes the procedure for environmental sanctions and stipulates other provisions.

Decree 2370 of 2009

Determines the Planning Tools for the Research Institutes assigned and linked to the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development.

Decree 2372 of 2010

Regulates Decree-Law 2811 of 1974, Law 99 of 1993, Law 165 of 1994 and Decree-Law 216 of 2003, in relation to the National System of Protected Areas and the management categories which make it up, and stipulates other provisions.

Law 1444 of 2011

By which different ministries are divided (among them the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, in order to create the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development).

Law 1450 of 2011

Law to approve the National Development Plan 2010 – 2014

Decree 3570 of 2011

Modifies the objectives and structure of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and integrates the Administrative Sector of Environment and Sustainable Development

Decree 3572 of 2011

Establishes a Special Administrative Unit and determines its objectives , structure and functions (Special Administrative Unit for the National Natural Parks of Colombia)

Decree 3573 of 2011

Establishes the National Environmental Licenses Authority (ANLA ) and stipulates other provisions

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

National Tools for the Management of Biodiversity and Others Related to Them. The main planning tools (policies, plans and programs) which have been developed in Colombia

to guide the protection, management and use of biodiversity on their different levels of organization or whose implementation promotes conservation actions are resumed in Table 2.

Table 2. Main national instruments for the management of biodiversity and other related subjects. Type of Instrument

Main Level of Biodiversity Organization Aimed At

Title

Overall Objective

Year

Policy

All levels

National Biodiversity Policy

Promote the conservation, knowledge and sustainable use of biodiversity, as well as the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from the use of the knowledge, innovations and practices associated with it by the scientific community, industry and local communities.

1996

Policy

Ecosystems

Forest Policy (CONPES Document Achieve a sustainable use of forests for the purpose of con2834/10) serving them, consolidating the incorporation of the forestry sector into the national economy and improving the quality of life of the population.

1996

Policy

Populations, Species

Policy for the Environmental Management Generate the conditions required for the sustainable use and of Wild Fauna in Colomba exploitation of wild fauna as a strategy for the conservation of biodiversity and as a socio-economic alternative for the development of the country, guaranteeing the permanence and functioning of natural populations and the ecosystems they belong to.

1997

Policy

Ecosystems

National Environmental Policy for the development of the oceanic spaces and the coastal and island zones of Colombia (CONPES Document 3164/02)

Promote a sustainable development of oceanic areas and coastal zones, which by means of an integrated management, contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of the Colombian population, the harmonious development of productive activities and the conservation and preservation of marine and coastal ecosystems and resources.

2001

Policy

Ecosystems

National Policy for Inland Wetlands in Co- Promote the conservation and rational use of the inland wetlombia lands of Colombia with the aim of maintaining and obtaining ecological, economic, and socio-cultural benefits as an integral part of the development of the country.

2001

Policy

All levels

Urban Environmental Management Policy Establish guidelines for the sustainable management of urban areas, defining the role and scope and identifying the resources and instruments of the different actors involved, in accordance with their responsibilities and functions, with the aim of harmonizing management and sectorial policies, and strengthening areas for inter-institutional coordination and citizens´ participation in order to contribute to urban environmental sustainability and the quality of life of the population, while acknowledging regional diversity and the types of urban areas in Colombia.

2008

Policy

All levels

National Policy for the Promotion of Re- Establish the conditions for knowledge to be an instrument search and Innovation (Colombia builds for development. Mainly by means of accelerating economand cultivates the future) (CONPES Doc- ic growth and reducing inequality. ument 3582/09) This policy views biodiversity as a strategic area and recognizes the need to advance in its knowledge and sustainable use.

2009

Policy

Ecosystems

National Policy for The Integral Manage- Guarantee the sustainability of water resources by means of ment of Water Resources an efficient and effective management and use linked to the ordering and use of territory and the conservation of the ecosystems that regulate the water supply and regard water as a factor for economic development and social well-being and implement equitable and inclusive processes of participation.

2009

13

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Type of Instrument

Main Level of Biodiversity Organization Aimed At

Policy

All levels

Policy

All levels

Program

Populations / Species

Program

Ecosystems

Program

Ecosystems

Plan

Ecosystems

Plan

Ecosystems

Plan

Ecosystems

Plan

All levels

14

Title

Overall Objective

CONPES 3680 SINAP “Guidelines for the Establish the guidelines and instructions to advance in the consolidation of the National System of consolidation of the National System of Protected Areas of Protected Areas “ Colombia as a system which is complete, ecologically representative and effectively managed in order to contribute to territorial ordering, thus fulfilling the objectives of conservation and sustainable development to which the country is committed. Policy of Sustainable Production and Con- Guide the change in the patterns of production and consumption sumption of Colombian society towards environmental sustainability, contributing to the competitiveness of businesses and the well-being of the population. Programs of species conservation: Guarantee the conservation and/or sustainable use of these (Tremarctos ornatus, Genus Tapirus, Croc- species. odylus intermedius, marine and continental turtles (tortuga icotea), Andean condor, sharks, sting-rays, ghost sharks and grey titi monkey. National Program for the Sustainable Use, Undertake actions to achieve the sustainable use of the manManagement and Conservation of Man- grove ecosystems of Colombia, securing the direct participagrove Ecosystems. tion of the communities associated with these mangroves and regarding them as life spaces through their conservation and restoration as well as the strengthening of the creation of alternative production systems which are socially, economically and ecologically adequate. Program for the Sustainable Management Guide environmental management in páramo ecosystems at and Restoration of Colombian Highland a national, regional and local level and carry out actions for their sustainable management and restoration by means of Ecosystems generating knowledge and the socialization of information about their structure and function, ecological restoration, the consolidation of their hydrological potential, the environmental planning of the territory, the sustainable use of existing natural resources, the development of national and international agreements, treaties and technical cooperation, and the direct and permanent participation of communities associated with these ecosystems, regarding them as life spaces. National Plan for Forestry Development Establish a strategic framework that actively incorporates the forestry sector into national development, optimizes its comparative advantages and promotes the competitiveness of timber and non-timber forest products in the national and international market through the sustainable management of natural forests and tree plantations. National Plan for the prevention of forest Establish guidelines at a national level for the prevention and fires and the restoration of affected areas. control of forest fires and the restoration of areas affected by them in order to mitigate their impact and strengthen national, regional and local organization by means of short (3 years), medium (10 years) and long term (25 years) programs. Action Plan for the National Campaign Implement actions against the degradation of lands and deAgainst Desertification and Drought in sertification and for relief from the effects of drought, as well Colombia as for the sustainable management of dry zone ecosystems through the application of practical measures that facilitate the prevention, halting and reversal of such degrading processes and contribute to the sustainable development of affected areas. Regional biodiversity action plans (Orinoco Promote the conservation, knowledge and sustainable use river basin, South Amazon, Valle del Cau- of biodiversity as well as a fair and equitable distribution of ca, Quindío, Nariño, Norte de Santander, the benefits derived from its use. Sucre)

Year 2010

2010

2001, 2005, 2002, 2006, 2010 2002

2002

2000

2002

2004

2005

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Type of Instrument

Main Level of Biodiversity Organization Aimed At

Title

Overall Objective

Year

Plan

Populations / Species

National Plan for migratory species.

Take actions for the conservation and sustainable management of the migratory species of Colombian biodiversity

2009

Strategy

Populations / Species

National Strategy for the prevention and Identify, prioritize, guide, coordinate, articulate and carry control of the illegal trafficking of wild spe- out actions aimed at reducing the illegal trafficking of wild species and the creation of sustainable productive alternacies. tives to replace it, based on effective links for coordination between the different institutions and other actors directly or indirectly responsible for environmental management.

2002

Strategy

All levels

General guidelines for the ex situ conserva- Establish the guidelines for the implementation of programs tion of wild fauna in zoos and aquariums in of ex situ conservation in Colombian zoos and aquariums as a complement to in situ conservation, to aid in the mainteColombia. Action Plan 2004 – 2014 nance of biological diversity.

2006

Strategy

Populations / Species

National Strategy for the prevention and Identify, prioritize, guide, coordinate, articulate and carcontrol of the illegal traffic in wild sloth ry out actions aimed at reducing the illegal traffic in wild species in Colombia. sloths and creating sustainable production alternatives which replace this illegal activity, based on effective links for coordination between the different institutions and other actors directly or indirectly responsible for environmental management.

2008

Strategy

Populations / Species

National Strategy for the Prevention, Con- Establish and implement an integrated group of guidelines trol, Follow-up and Monitoring of Forest- which articulate in a harmonized way the preventive, juridry Activities ical, financial–administrative and operational components of processes for the prevention, follow-up, control and surveillance of the management, use, transport, transformation and commercialization of timber and non-timber forest resources, based on the coordinated management of the environmental authorities and other responsible State bodies and the active participation of the diverse actors in the productive forestry chain, other related productive sectors and the civil society in general.

2010

Technical Proposal

All levels

Biodiversity: 21st century. Technical pro- Strategies and lines of action to develop knowledge and use posal of the National Action Plan for Bio- of Colombian biodiversity diversity

1998

National Planning Documents

c. Strengthen the sustainable use of biodiversity for the benefit of competitiveness and economic and social growth.

The National Development Plan, 20102014: “Prosperity for All” sets forth national purposes and objectives, as well as the strategies, guidelines and general goals for the government´s economic, social In addition, it sets forth actions for the and environmental policy during the period of its integral management of water resources related to the administration. With regard to biodiversity, chapter maintenance of ecosystems that are crucial for their VI of the Plan, “environmental sustainability and risk conservation and actions for adapting the nation to prevention” sets forth the need to undertake actions to: climate change. a. Strengthen the protection and renewal of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services b. Deal with the risks of the loss of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services

International Commitments Table 3 presents some of the main agreements and conventions related to the conservation of biodiversity which Colombia has signed and ratified 15

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Table 3. Main agreements and conventions related to the conservation of biodiversity which Colombia has signed and ratified

Agreement / Instrument

Place and Year of Signing

Main Level of Biodiversity Organization Aimed At

Law which Ratifies it

Objective

Inter-American Tropical Tuna U.S.A., 1949 Commission (CIAT)

Populations / Species

Law 579 of 2000 (ratified in 2007)

Study tuna fish biology and related or similar species and suggest appropriate methods to conserve fish stocks at levels which allow for maximum sustainable harvests.

Convention on the Continental Geneva, 1958 Shelf.

Ecosystems

Law 9 of 1961

Define the continental shelf area and the criteria of management for the Parties in this zone.

The Geneva Convention on Fish- Geneva, 1958 ing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas, April 29, 1958,

Populations / Species

Law 119 of 1961

Adopt or collaborate with other States in the adoption of measures, which, in relation to their respective citizens, may be necessary for the conservation of the living resources of the sea. Resolve, when it is possible and on the basis of international cooperation, matters related to the danger of over-exploitation of living resources of the high seas and their conservation, through the concerted action of all the interested States.

Convention Concerning the Pro- Paris, 1972 tection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage

Ecosystems

Law 45 of 1983

Establish an effective system for the joint protection of the world´s cultural and natural heritage, organized in a permanent manner and in accordance with modern scientific methods.

The Convention on Internation- Washington, al Trade in Endangered Species 1973 of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Populations / Species

Law 17 of 1981

Protect species endangered and threatened by excessive exploitation by regulating or prohibiting the international commerce in such species or their specimens.

Amazon Cooperation Treaty

Ecosytems

Law 74 of 1979

Promote the harmonious development of the Amazon and the equitable distribution of its benefits among the parties in order to raise the quality of life of its peoples, maintaining a balance between economic development and the preservation of the environment.

The Convention on Wetlands Ramsar, 1981 of International Importance, (RAMSAR)

Ecosystems

Law 357 of 1997

Guarantee the conservation and rational management of wetlands, recognizing the importance of their functions, wealth of flora and fauna and economic value as ecosystems which generally occupy transitional zones between permanently wet areas and areas which are usually dry.

CONVENTION FOR THE PRO- Lima, 1981 TECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND COASTAL AREA OF THE SOUTH-EAST PACIFIC

Ecosystems

Law 45 of 1985

Protect and preserve the marine environment and coastal zone of the Southwest Pacific from all types and sources of contamination by regional cooperation through the work of the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS).

Convention for the Protection Cartagena, and Development of the Marine 1983 Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region. (CPDMEWCR)

Ecosystems

Law 56 of 1987

Concert bilateral or multilateral agreements for the protection of the marine environment of the zone covered by the Convention

Protocol Concerning Special- Kingston, 1990 ly Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (SPAW)

All levels

Law 356 of 1997

Establish the necessary measures to protect, preserve and sustainably manage the marine environment of the Wider Caribbean region. Regulate the activities which may cause adverse effects on marine areas and their species. Prevent fauna and flora species from being threatened or in danger of extinction.

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Brasilia, 1978

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Agreement / Instrument

Place and Year of Signing

Main Level of Biodiversity Organization Aimed At

Law which Ratifies it

Objective

The International Union for the Geneva, 1991 Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)

Populations / Species

Law 243 of 1995

Recognize and guarantee the right of the breeder of a new plant variety or its successor in title, through the creation of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

Convention on Biological Diver- Rio de sity (CBD ) Janeiro, 1992

All levels

Law 165 of 1994

The conservation of biological diversity The sustainable use of its components The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources

Combat desertification and mitigate the effects of serious drought or desertification, particularly in Africa, through the adoption of effective measures at all levels which are supported by international cooperation and association agreements. Implementation of integrated, long term strategies that are centered on the increase of land productivity as well as the rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable use of resources, with the aim of improving living conditions

a) Prepare conditions for a fair and equitable participation in the benefits derived from access; (b) Lay the foundations for the recognition of genetic resources and their derived products and associated intangible elements, especially in the case of indigenous, Afro-American or local communities; c) Promote the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of the genetic resources which biological resources contain: d) Promote the consolidation and development of scientific, technological and technical capacity on a local, national and sub-regional level; and (e) Strengthen the negotiating power of the Member Nations.

The Agreement on the Inter- Washington, national Dolphin Conservation 1998 Program (AIDCP)

Populations / Species

Law 557 of 2000

Eliminate the incidental mortality of dolphins in tuna fishing by purse seine nets in the Area of the Agreement, by means of the establishment of annual limits and environmentally adequate methods to catch big yellow-fin tuna which are not associated with dolphins. Ensure long term sustainability in the area as well as that of the related live marine resources, with the aim of reducing and avoiding incidental catches and the release of young tuna and species which are not the objective of fishing.

The Cartagena Protocol on Bio- Montreal, 2000 All levels safety to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Law 740 of 2002

Help guarantee an adequate protection in the sphere of the transference, handling and safe use of living modified organisms (LMO) which result from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, also taking into account the risks to human health and specifically focusing on transborder movements.

International Tropical Timber Geneva, 2006 Agreement

Law 1458 of 2011

Promote the expansion and diversification of the international commerce in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests and promote the sustainable management of timber-producing tropical forests.

All levels

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NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

As of 2011 Colombia has periodically complied with its commitment to report its progress in the implementation of the conventions deriving from the Rio Summit (1992):

tion and creating tools of information for decision-making, and the monitoring of the state of biodiversity and the state of knowledge of the same.

a. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): 4 national reports, in the years 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2010.

System of Marine Environmental Information (SIAM): This is the integrated set of conceptual aspects, policies, norms, processes, human resources and technologies which link the coastal marine environmental information generated, administered and/or required in the national, regional and local ambits. It is coordinated and administered by the INVEMAR.

b. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): 2 national reports in the years 2001 and 2010. c. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: 4 national reports in the years 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2010. Tools of Information Since the creation of Law 99/93 (Art 5.Numeral 20 and Art.31, numeral 22), the country has designed and implemented an environmental information system in order to undertake its management of information so that it may support decision-making on a national level. Environmental Information System for Colombia (SIAC): This is the integrated grouping of actors, policies, processes and technologies involved in the management of the country´s environmental information, in order to facilitate the accumulation of knowledge, decision-making, education and social participation in sustainable development. The SIAC counts on three information systems on the national and regional levels. These are Environmental Information system (SIA), the Information System for Environmental Planning and Management (SIPGA) and the Territorial Information System (SIAT). Within the SIA the following information systems are found: Biodiversity Information System (SIB): this is a national alliance coordinated by the “Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research into Biological Resources” (AvH), which aims to facilitate the efficient and permanent management of information on biodiversity that is useful for the processes of analyzing informa-

18

National System of Forestry Information (SNIF): This is a tool for promoting an efficient and timely flow of highquality forestry information to guide decision-making about forests and the development of policies for the sector. It includes the gathering, validation, processing and analysis of information about the supply and demand of the ecosystemic services of forests and the environmental, social and economic dynamic of the forestry sector in the country. Sub-system of Information on the Use of Renewable Natural Resources (SIUR).This is the set which integrates and standardizes the gathering, storage, processing, analysis, data consulting and protocols for having uniform, homogeneous and systematic information about the use, transformation and exploitation of natural resources arising from the country´s economic activities. The SIUR manages environmental information related to captures, spillages, energy consumption, atmospheric emissions, wastes and other factors which affect the air, soil, climate and biodiversity of the country.

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

USERS AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK RELATED TO THE MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY The country´s management of its biodiversity involves seven (7) main groups of actors, who will be fundamental for the implementation of this policy on the national, regional and local scales, and in trans-frontier scenarios (Figure 2)1. The selection of these actors has been done on the basis of an acknowledgment of the participatory and democratic character which defines the Social State of Law under the 1991 Colombian Constitution and the subsequent developments which define concrete mechanisms for the citizenry´s participation in the different ambits of public management, from the design of public policies to the social control and citizens´ oversight of that management. A special emphasis is given to those organizations which form part of the National Environmental System and make up the National Environmental Council, in accordance with articles 4 and 13, respectively, of Law 99 of 1993. • The first group of actors related to the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services are the Policy Makers and Administrators, that is, the public institutions responsible for creating the Sectorial Environmental Policy and the respective technical and normative instrumentation directly related to it, and also for exercising authority or rule over the actions permitted for the governance and protection of biological diversity in a given socio-ecological system on the national, regional, local and transfrontier scales. In this group are found the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Art. 2, Decree 3570 of 2011), the National Environment Licenses Authority (ANLA), the Special Administrative Unit of the National Natural Parks System, the Autonomous Regional and Sustainable Development Corporations (Arts. 21 1 The numbering of these groups does not follow any hierarchical order or ranking of importance

and 31, Law 99/93), the Urban Environmental Authorities, the armed forces (in the role of the Environmental Police and the Colombian Army in fulfillment of its national security role) and the Departments, Municipalities and Districts, which, under Law 99 of 1993, also have environmental functions (Art. 64, 65 and 66). These actors interact through the: formulation of public policies, programs and strategies, and the management and action plans (including the Plans, Schemes and Basic Plans of Territorial Ordering) and projects in the national, regional, local and trans-frontier ambits (Figure 2). • The Second Group of Actors refers to the Direct Users, that is, those who utilize biodiversity and its ecosystemic services as the main element for the development of their activities or as a source of raw materials or inputs for production on a small, medium or large scale. There belong to this group natural persons and legal entities, both public and private, from the following sectors: agriculture/ stock-rearing and forestry; extractive industries (mining and energy); road and port infrastructure; housing and territorial development; trade and tourism; consumers who exercise a demand for products and services derived from biodiversity; botanical gardens and zoos; as well indigenous reservations and communities; the collective territories of Afro-Colombian communities and the ethnic communities known as raizales and palenqueras; peasant-farmer reserves and associations of small rural producers; non-associated peasantfarmers and agricultural colonists and environmental NGO´s (Non-Governmental Organizations) (Figure 2). Among the scenarios in which these actors interact are, for example: participation in the construction of public policies and Territorial Ordering Plans (POT, EOT) and joint environmental agendas, applications for permits, environmental 19

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licensing processes, cleaner production agreements, public-private intersectorial agendas and self-regulation mechanisms. • The Third Group of Actors is related to the Indirect Users, who, although they benefit from biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, do not extract goods from biological diversity or base their main productive activity on it. In this group are found natural persons and legal entities, both public and private, from the industrial sector of transformation (manufacturing), the services sector and the Civil Society, that is, all of us who daily benefit from the existence of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, which enable us to have oxygen to breathe, water to fill our aqueducts, a regulated climate in rural and urban areas, clean air, foodstuffs in the marketplaces, etc. (Figure 2). Among the scenarios of public and public-private management in which these actors participate we might mention, among others: interministerial and intersectorial agendas, participation in the construction of public policies and mechanisms of citizens´ oversight. • The fourth group corresponds to the Regulatory Bodies, that is, institutions of a national character such as the Colombian Congress; the Executive Branch of the Colombian government (the Presidency, other Ministries and/or corresponding Administrative Departments – DNP, COLCIENCIAS, DANE, DAFP, DPS-), and the Judicial Branch represented by the High Courts. The first of these is responsible for reforming the Constitution, making laws and exercising political control, while the second is responsible for issuing decrees and other norms to do with aspects of the Policy for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and Its Ecosystemic Services. It is here that the High Courts of the Judicial Branch of the State take on importance, since, through their jurisprudence, they may pronounce on matters related to the themes of this Policy (Figure 2). 20

Furthermore, the Departmental Assemblies and Municipal Councils also form part of this Group, insofar as through their ordinances and agreements they may create guidelines related to the Policy this document discusses. The scenarios of the management these actors undertake or where they interact are: debates on legislation and political control, interministerial agendas and public hearings, among others. • The Fifth Group of Actors refers to the Entities of Control, that is, the Contraloría General de la República (General Comptroller of the Nation), the Fiscalía General de la Nación (Public Prosecutor´s Office), the Public Ministry (Procurator General of the Republic, the Public Defender of the People and Personerías) and the Citizens´ Oversight Councils (Figure 2). These institutions have the mission, among others, of supervising the management of the State budget, investigating crimes, preventing and/or sanctioning disciplinary faults by public servants and promoting respect for human rights and sanctioning their violation. The scenarios of management which these actors promote or where they interact are: mechanisms for the preventive control of public administration, political influence on the legislative agenda and the formation of interest groups. • In the sixth group one finds the Generators of Knowledge for Decision-Making, who are responsible for producing the knowledge and information needed for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, through scientific research and/or empirical and traditional knowledge, so that they guide and are the support for the strengthening of the management capacity of the public institutions concerned with the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, as well as the processes for the elaboration of public policies, normative and technical instrumentation, territorial

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ordering plans, among others, and social and sectorial territorial planning. In this group of actors are found the research institutes affiliated and linked to the MADS (IAvH, SINCHI, IIAP, INVEMAR and IDEAM -Law 99/93, Title V-), the Natural Sciences Institute of the Universidad Nacional, other research institutes and centers, universities and academies, botanical gardens and zoos, as well as indigenous reservations and communities, the collective territories of Black communities, the communities of the ethnic minorities known as raizales and palenqueras, peasant-farmer reserves and associations of small rural producers and environmental NGO´s (Non-Governmental Organizations), the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Corpoica, the Colombian Geological Service and the Mining Energy Planning Unit (UPME). The scenarios of management which these actors promote or where they interact

are: research programs, the formulation of public policies and action plans in the national, regional and local ambits and Territorial Ordering Plans (POT, PBOT and EOT), among others. • The National and International Collaborators belong to the Seventh and last Group of Actors. They exert an important influence on the country´s internal dialogues about biodiversity, due to their role as cooperating entities, entities which finance the Policy or even as implementers of the same. In this group of Actors are found: the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation in Colombia (APC), the agencies of multilateral cooperation for development, the multilateral banks, international conventions and foreign governments. The scenarios of management which these actors promote or where they interact are: Cooperation agreements for execution, research or the formation of human capital (Figure 2).

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATORS Cooperation with loans, technical consultancy, negotiation, participation

POLICY MAKERS AND ADMINISTRATORS

BIODIVERSITY (Genes, species, ecosystems)

Figure 2. Diagram illustrating the different groups of actors involved in the management of biodiversity and how the relations among them should be.

21

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KINDS OF CONFLICTS AMONG THE ACTORS While Figure 2 presents the main natural relations among the different groups of actors which have a direct or indirect participation in the management of biodiversity, these relations are not perfect nor stable over time. In this context, socio-environmental conflicts may be understood as the tensions, disagreements, clashes and/or shocks caused by the opposition between two forces of actors (persons, organizations, institutions), because they pursue opposing objec-

tives with regard to the access to, use, management and protection of biodiversity and its ecosystemic serices, or because the actions of one group of actors are not what the other group expects or needs (Table 4). These conflicts are not just to do with problems arising from effects on natural resources. They often involve clashes and confrontations caused by difficulties in social interaction, the absence of dialogue or the meager participation of the local population in public decisions, in other words, the conflicts are more of a social or political than an exclusively technical kind (adapted from Quintana, undated).

Table 4. Breakdown of current main conflicts among the different groups of actors involved in the management of biodiversity in Colombia. The grey boxes single out the conflicts found within each one of the different groups of actors. Group of Actors

Policy Makers and Administrators • Lack of intrainstitutional linkage • Lack of practical clarity about the powers of different entities and jurisdictions • Contradictory opinions and rulings on the regional and national levels • Lack of support, assessment and feedback between the national, regional and local levels

• There is often Policy competition Makers and for resources Administrators of international cooperation.

Direct Users

• Driving forces of the • Failure to engines of biodiversity comply with transformation and loss norms in force • Generation of environmental deficits • Poor understanding of the importance of the EIAs as tools for sustainable development • Failure to comply with current regulations • Persistence of the view that the conservation of biodiversity is a “luxury” that can only be dealt with after true economic growth • Persistence of the view that vulnerability to environmental change is manageable as long as a company is economically strong • Contradictory territorial and sectorial interests • Creation of environmental deficits • Failure to include and take biodiversity into consideration in its actions

• Sectorial • Lack of involvement in decisions that don´t take available the processes scientific knowledge into account. • Traditional knowledge is not recognized or used in research or decision- making

• Failure to take biodiversity into account in its actions

• Negative perception of agencies as obstructive and only interested in policing • Too many regulations, some contradictory and difficult to apply Lack of clear priorities for action • Generation of • Contradictory environmental deficits territorial and sectorial interests • Slowness with

• Contradictory territorial and sectorial interests • Do not include or take biodiversity into account in their actions • Practical lack of knowledge of their powers • Rulings and opinions which do not favor conservation of biodiversity

• Political differences that may affect rulings or decisions or legislative processes

• Low allocation of • Lack of clarity financial resources on agendas • Lack of sensitivity of needs for to and appropriation international cooperation of environmental

• Lack of sensitivity to and appropriation of environmental concerns in legislation and governance

• Generation of knowledge that does not contribute to decisionmaking

concerns in legislation

23

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Group of Actors

Policy Makers and Administrators • Findings which result from management problems

Direct Users

Indirect Users

• Failure to comply with • Failure to norms comply with norms

Control Entities

Generators of knowledge for DecisionMaking

National and International Collaborators

24

Regulatory Bodies

Entities of Control

Generators of Knowledge for Decision-Making

• Political differences that may affect rulings or decisions or legislative processes

National and International Collaborators • On occasions acts which overlap with those of national entities

• Lack of sensitivity to and appropriation of environmental concerns in legislation and governance • Low allocation of financial resources

• Generation of knowledge that does not add to decision• Delays in the granting of licenses for making research and access to genetic resources • Lack of clarity on agendas and needs for international cooperation

• Lack of support in making processes sustainable

• Lack of involvement • Lack of support in the processes in making processes sustainable

• Adoption of administrative acts that do not contribute to the conservation of biodiversity

• Weak operational capacity in the face of environmental problems

• Findings which result from management problems

• Lack of practical clarity on responsibilities

• Adoption of administrative acts that do not contribute to the conservation of biodiversity

• Weak operational capacity in the face of environmental problems

• Lack of clarity on agendas and needs for international cooperation need

• Lack of practical clarity on the responsibilities of agencies • Competition for projects and cooperation

IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY FOR COLOMBIA

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According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD 1992), biodiversity is defined as the “the variability of live organisms from whatever source, included, among other things, terrestrial and marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they form part; it is made up of the diversity within each species, among species and ecosystems”. This definition allows us to understand biodiversity as a territorially explicit system, which is characterized not only by having a structure, composition (expressed in the diverse arrangements of the levels of organization of biodiversity, from genes to

ecosystems) and a functioning among these levels, but also a close and interdependent relation with human systems through a set of ecological processes which are perceived as benefits (ecosystemic services) for the development of the different human cultural systems in all their dimensions (political, social, economic, technological, symbolic, mythical and religious). This system interacts and keeps functioning thanks to the existence of solar energy, the global cycle of water and geo-chemical cycles, which interact with life, producing the complexity of relations and expressions which constitute biodiversity (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Biodiversity has a concrete territorial expression on its different levels of organization, from genes to ecosystems, which have a composition, structure and functioning within and between these levels; many of these complex ecological interactions are expressed as ecosystemic services, which constitute direct and indirect benefits which human beings receive from biodiversity.

27

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Table 5. Area of the main Colombian continental, coastal and marine ecosystems. Source: IDEAM et al. 2007. For ease of understanding, a simplified division of the country´s ecosystems into large general groups is presented. ECOSYSTEMS

Area (hectares) Official data for management

Total Natural Forests Dry Forests

Area (hectares)

Percentage of total continental area of country

61,246, 659

53.7

IDEAM et al. 2007 IDEAM et al. 2007

Source

201, 200

0.2

Tropical Humid Forests

49,358,834

43.3

IDEAM et al. 2007

Montane Forests

11,377,943

10

IDEAM et al. 2007

308,682

0.3

IDEAM et al. 2007

1,980,454.06

2,067,987

1.8

IDEAM et al. 2007

3,020,155

2,711,473

2.4

IDEAM et al. 2007

10,017,163

8.8

IDEAM et al. 2007

1,336,816

1.2

IDEAM et al. 2007

8,567

01

IDEAM et al. 2007

GRASS AND SHRUB LAND

1,374,041

1.2

IDEAM et al. 2007

SECONDARY VEGETATION

8,148,154

7.1

IDEAM et al. 2007

161,161

0.1

IDEAM et al. 2007

9,346,948

8.2

IDEAM et al. 2007

17,313,886

15.2

IDEAM et al. 2007

15,709

0.01

IDEAM et al. 2007 IDEAM et al. 2007

NATURAL FORESTS

Mangrove Forests PÁRAMOS (High Andean Moors) WETLANDS

1 2

NATURAL SAVANNAS DESERTIC, XEROPHITIC AND SUBXEROPHITIC GLACIERS AND SNOW-COVERED LAND

1 Data from Atlas de Páramos (Morales et al. 2007), Resolution 937 of 2011. 2 The official figure includes the area of mangrove forests. n.a. Not applicable

COMPONENTS OF BIODIVERSITY IN COLOMBIA ECOSYSTEMS According to the “Map of continental, coastal and marine ecosystems of Colombia”, drawn on a scale of 1:500,000, Colombia has 311 kinds of continental and coastal ecosystems, including natural areas which have been little transformed and landscapes transformed by human activities of settlement, production and extraction (IDEAM et. al. 2007) (Table 5). 28

COMMUNITIES According to Rangel-Ch. (1997), on a national level there are nearly 366 phyto-sociological associations and vegetal communities2. Nevertheless, on the basis of the studies of Rangel-Ch (1995, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007a, 2007b, 2008, 2009, 2010a y 2010b), 2 The vegetal community, or type of vegetation, is a group of vegetal species in a given place, with well defined characteristics that are constant over time, which may be identified on the basis of the characteristics of dominant species, where one uses one or several dominant species to identify a larger group of species, like those shown in the syntaxonomy (Rangel-Ch. 2004)

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Bernal-Hadad (2010) reports more than 1188 vegetal communities in the country, with something more than 1500 dominant species and 700 main dominant species. According to this same study, the high-Andean regions are those which have the highest number of communities (339 in páramos or high Andean moors and 236 in other Andean ecosystems), followed by the Amazon, Orinoco, Pacific and Caribbean, with 193, 164, 129 and 127 communities, respectively.

Endemic Species Although we do not have a total estimate, it is thought that around 32 species of mammals, 400 of amphibians, 66 of birds and a third of the world´s plant species are exclusively found in Colombia (Gleich at al. 2000, Franco et al. 2006). This had led to the conclusion that the country may be regarded as the second highest in terms of the presence of areas of endemism (14) in the case of groups like birds (Stattersfield 1998) and the place where there are two of the most imporSPECIES AND tant biodiversity hotspots on the planet: the Andes POPULATIONS and Chocó Bio-geographic region (Mittermeier). It is important to point out that broad species diversity Richness has generally been the most just mentioned is not distributed in a homogenous common indicator of biodiversity through a listing way throughout the whole of Colombian territory but of the number of species found in a given territory (Groom et al. 2006). Although there are no detailed varies from region to region. In the continental part, and complete biological inventories for all of Colom- the Andean region is the one which shows the greabian territory, the current estimates give the country test wealth for groups like amphibians, reptiles, birds, one of the highest places in species diversity on a world mammals and plants, followed by that of the Amazon level (Table 6). Among these figures Rangel-Ch. (1995, and the Pacific region (Chaves and Santamaría 2006, 2006) reports that Colombia has 12% of the vegetal Romero et al. 2008) wealth of the planet, including 927 species of mosses, Migratory Species 840 species of hepatics, 1,515 species of lichen, and In addition, 549 species which may be 1400 species of ferns and similar plants. Groups like the considered migratory, with an occasional cyclic or orchids stand out, represented by nearly 3500 species permanent distribution in the country, have been iden(15% of the total of the world´s orchid species). Simi- tified in Colombia. Among the different taxonomic larly, the wealth of bird species corresponds to 19% of groups one finds 21 species of marine mammals, 6 the world total (60% of the recorded species in South species of fresh-water mammals, 28 bat species, 275 America). With regard to the diversity of aquatic bird species, 6 species of turtle, 110 species of freshspecies, nearly 1,357 species of fresh-water fish have water fishes, 64 species of marine fishes and 39 species been reported, grouped into 16 orders and 51 fami- of insects (Naranjo and Amaya 2009). lies (Maldonado et al.2008). In coastal and marine ecosystems it is estimated that there are around 2,500 National Agro-biodiversity Although there are no consolidated data species of mollusks, 2,000 fishes (176 elasmobranchs) in the country on the number of vegetal varieties (Invemar, 2008). Table 6. Ranking of countries with the highest biological wealth in terms of number of species for different taxonomic groups PLANTS

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and wild relatives used or with a potential use for the production of food or other kinds of raw materials of commercial interest, we can mention some examples which give an idea of their high diversity. González (2002) has identified nearly 38 genera and 7 species of wild relatives of cultivated and forage plants. With regard to the species used by farmers, for cassava alone (Manihot esculenta Krantz, known as yuca in Colombia), there are around 200 varieties in the Amazon (for example, the Piopoco tribe has no less than 82 varieties) and the Sibundoyes or Kamtzá indigenous group has 22 varieties of arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancroft), whereas Western science only knows of four varieties (González 2002).

ment for research or bioprospecting. Between 2004 and 2011, 45 access contracts were signed, all for research purposes. Of these contracts, 19 have been for access to the genetic material of more than one species. The rest may be broken down into 16 species of fauna, 7 of flora and 1 microorganism (MAVDT 2011f).

BIODIVERSITY AS A SUPPORT FOR ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

Ecosystemic Services3 are the direct or indirect benefits which mankind receives from biodiversity and are the result of the interaction among the different components, structures and functions which make up biodiversity (Figure 3). Ecosystemic services have been recognized as the bridge which joins biodiversity to human beings. This means that the actions have been historically taken for the conservation of Endangered Species biodiversity (for example, protected areas, the preserAccording to what is stated in Resolution vation of focal species, biological corridors, among 383 of 2010 of the Ministry of Environment (then the others) are not activities which are alien to developMAVDT and now the MADS), 377 species of fauna ment, but, on the contrary, have significantly aided the in Colombian territory are in danger of extinction, provision of ecosystemic services on which depend, of which 43 are mammals, 112 birds, 25 reptiles, 48 directly or indirectly, all human activities of producamphibians, 28 marine fishes, 34 fresh-water fishes, 7 tion, extraction, settlement and consumption, as well corals, 14 marine mollusks, 7 marine crustaceans, 1 as the welfare of our societies. In general terms, one terrestrial crustacean, 13 butterflies, 3 coleoptera, 31 can identify four (4) kinds of ecosystemic services hymenoptera, 6 spiders and 5 scorpions (MAVDT (MEA 2005): 2010a). However, the number of species which may be SUPPLY SERVICES regarded as in danger of extinction may rise to 1,1117 (Amaya-Espinel 2009). In the past fifty years the extincThese are the goods and services which tion of at least three species endemic to Colombia has are obtained from ecosystems, such as foodstuffs, fibers, been corroborated: the monk seal (Monachus tropi3 The concept of ecosystemic services includes what has calis), the Colombian Grebe (Podiceps andinus) and been traditionally known as environmental goods, since the greasefish (Rhizosomichthys totae). these are the same services of supply. Howewer, the In the case of Creole races of animals, on which no consolidated data on all the kinds of cattle are available either, there at least 9 Creole bovine races in the country, all derived from European cattle (Corpoica 2007; Pardo 2010); 26 Creole races of chickens (Angarita 2010); 5 races of pigs (Gobernación del Valle del Cauca 2010); 5 of goats and 11 of sheep (ANCO 2010).

GENES Another expression of Colombia´s megadiversity is its genetic richness (Palacio and Hodson, 2006). However, the knowledge of national biodiversity on the genetic level is limited and we do not have representative figures about its current state. Nevertheless, an indirect way of approaching a knowledge of genetic diversity may be through an analysis of the contracts for access to genetic resources granted by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Develop30

concept of environmental services is not used, since in general it refers to the flow of materials, energy and information of natural capital, combined with human capital or capital manufactured for human welfare (Constanza et al. 1997). Environmental services are also related to the supply of environmental resources or environmental sanitation provided by industries and social organizations, like sewage services, the collection and disposal of garbage, sanitation and similar services, and also services for reducing vehicle emissions and noise contamination, among others, but they are not necessarily related to the processes and functions of ecosystems, as ecosystemic services are.

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timbers, firewood, water, soil, genetic resources, skins, ture and Rural Development, in the past decade the pets, among others (MEA 2005). production of fishing and fish-farming has had an annual average of 166,000 tons, of which 50% comes Foodstuffs from industrial fishing, 23% from artisanal fishing and In Colombia, the permanent availability 27% from fish-farming products. In terms of subsector of foodstuffs (from crops or livestock), which is one and regions, the share in the annual average producof the conditions needed to guarantee the country´s tion of 114,467 tons over the past decade amounts alimentary and nutritional security, depends not to 71% for the Pacific, 11.7% for the Caribbean and only on the diversity of species and varieties which 17% for continental fishing, mainly in the Magdahave resulted from a long process of domestication, selection and improvement. It also directly depends lena-Cauca, Orinoco and Amazon River basins. On on the fertility of soils, the supply of water resources the basis of these figures it has been estimated that and the natural occurrence of ecological processes annual per capita consumption is nearly 5.8 kilos/ resulting from the interaction among wild species year (MADR et al. 2008). In the case of aquaculture, and between them and cultivated species, such as it is acknowledged to have been one of the activities pollination, seed dispersal and natural pest control, with the highest economic potentials on a world level, among others. since it has grown and gained access to international markets in the past few years (MADR et al. 2008). In general terms, the share of agriculture The 2007 annual report of the Corporación Colombia in the country´s GDP has been on the order of 10 Internacional (CCI) mentions an increase of 33% to 14% since 1994 (Jarvis 2010), generating 21% of its employment (DANE 2009) and occupying nearly between 1999 and 2006, and particularly empha44.8% of the total planimetric area of the nation sizes the contribution of marine aquaculture, which (DANE 2009). Of the total agricultural/stock-rearing has grown by 133% compared to the 13% growth for production in 2007, 55.2% corresponds to agricul- continental aquaculture. ture and the remaining 44.8% to stock-rearing (Jarvis Exports of fish products have had an 2010). With regard to cattle production, the 2009 average annual growth rate of 0.9%, with variations national census reported a total of 22,540,251 head of cattle. For the production of meat in 2011, 4,103,337 in different years. In 2006 alone, the country exported heads of cattle were killed, which signifies a growth of products approximately worth US$ 148,698,245, 4%, while milk production in 2008 was 6.476 billion mainly of tuna, crustaceans, other fishes, processed liters (Fedegan 2012). In the 2001-2006 period the and canned fish and ornamental fish, which amounted supply of ecological products in the country grew by to 4% of exports and mainly went to the United States, 25,713 hectares, mainly through crops of bananas, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Mexico, among other coffee, cacao, cereals, palm oil, tubers, fruits, sugar- countries (CCI 2006). cane blocks (panela), garden produce and Heliconias, among others (MADR 2007). Timber Forest Products In the case of fishing and aquaculture in the marine and continental waters of the country, the ecosystemic supply which upholds this activity consists of 91 species of fresh-water fishes and 1 crustacean, and 399 species of marine fishes, 23 crustaceans and 10 mollusks (MAVDT –MADR 2010). It is worth mentioning that fishing is the main source of food and income for the rural populations of some regions of the country. Thus, it is estimated that of the production of the fishing sector, 49% corresponds to marine fishing, 43% to aquaculture (13% marine and 30% continental) and 8% to continental fishing. According to the figures of the Ministry of Agricul-

The records for permits to exploit and transport timber from wild forests granted by the Autonomous Regional Corporations during the 20002008 period show a volume of 14,233,861 m3 for timber exploitation and 15,176, 698 m3 for legal transports of timber (IDEAM 2010a), while commercial reforestation in the country rose to approximately 296,072 hectares in 2010 (MADR). The sector of sylviculture and timber extraction products accounts for 0.2% of national GDP and 1.2% of the GDP for that of agriculture, stock31

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rearing, hunting and fishing4. 80% of the sector´s products correspond to the aggregate value created, from which derive industrial activities like timber transformation and the furniture, wood pulp, paper and cardboard industries (Espinal et al. 2005). The breakdown of the domestic demand for such products is shown in Figure 4, where one can see that most of the product goes to sawmills, which, in turn, provide the raw materials for the uses seen in Figure 5. In Colombia more than 470 species of

2002, quoted in Olaya-Álvarez 2006). In large measure, forestry exploitation in Colombia is based on the selective extraction of such native species as caoba (mahogany), cedar, sajo, cuángare, mangrove and robles, which meet the demand for sawn timber and rounded logs, wood pulp for paper, triplex boards, agglomerate boards, tannins, firewood and charcoal. As for the consumption of firewood, the FAO´s biennial report on the State of the World´s Forests (2007) indicates that Colombia is in third place in South America. According to the World Health Organization –WHO-- 15% of the population living in Colombian municipalities in the mist forests depend on combustible solids (firewood and charcoal) for heating and cooking (Aristizábal 2010). According to the IDEAM (2010a), the production and consumption of firewood in Colombia fell between 2000 and 2008, though it has kept at a level of around 21,000 kilotons/year. However, in some areas of the country, consumption may be higher: for example, it is reported that 79% of the families in the municipality of Encino, Santander, exclusively cook with firewood, with an estimated average consumption of 6.2t/year and a per capita one of 2.9 Kg./day (Aristizábal, 2010). Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP)

According to López and Cavalier (2007), the use of these kinds of supply services (mainly, in medicine, crafts and building) may reach 3.2 million dollars, involving at least 1,500 species, most of them (700) from the sub-Andean and Andean mountain jungles and nearly another 500 species from dry zones, Figure 5. Uses of sawn timber in páramos (high Andean moors) and wetlands. It is Colombia. Source: Espinal et al. 2005 estimated that 1,200,000 people in Colombia economically depend on the use of NTFP and the number timber trees are exploited. In 1996 alone an exploi- of craftsmen may reach to 350,000 persons (Gómez tation of 1,313,000 m3 of timber from natural forests and Ortega, DNP 2007). In the period between 1998was reported, along with 322,400 m3 from plantations 2005, exports of crafts products rose on average to and 91.000 m3 from imports (MMA and Asocars, US$ 135 millions, compared to average imports of US$ 84 millions (Artesanías de Colombia, in DNP 4 In the fourth quarter of 2009, the GDP of the agriculture/ 2007), a large part of them corresponding to ceramics stock-rearing, sylviculture, hunting and fishing sector and jewelry, but with an equally important share of reported an annual growth of 2.8%. The 8.7% growth other crafts and materials like leather, fabrics, seed of the subsector of other agricultural / stock-rearing and woods (Gómez and Ortega 2007). products stands out, a record for the past 7 years. Equally prominent is the dynamic of the sector of sylviculture, with a 5.9% increase, and of other fish products, with an increase of 3.9%. Taken as a whole, these activities mitigated and made up for the 22.2% fall in the subsector of coffee products, which represents 10.1% of the agriculture/stock rearing GDP (MADR 2010).

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Hides, Meat and Ornamental Fauna: Animal-breeding in Colombia has recently become an important source of foreign earnings as a sector of nontraditional exports. It has been especially aimed at the production of specimens of caimans (Caiman croco-

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dilus crocodilus, Caiman crocodilus fuscus, Crocodilus acutus) and to a lesser extent, capybaras (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris), iguanas (Iguana iguana), gold tegus (Tupinambis nigropunctatus) and boas (Boa constrictor), mainly for the production of hides and meat (Mancera and Reyes 2008). The breeding of the babilla caiman alone produces 20 to 25 million dollars annually (Contraloría General de la República, in Mancera and Reyes 2008). Another case is the export of ornamental fish. It is estimated that some 25 million individuals are exported annually, with a value of 7 million dollars, almost all of them obtained from their natural habitat. Figures from the DANE and PROEXPORT (Mancera and Reyes 2008) show that these exports reached US$ 6,257, 551 in 2005, representing nearly 0.03% of the country´s total exports that year. 88% of the ornamental fishes which are exported come from the Orinoco basin region (Puerto Inírida, Villavicencio, Puerto Gaitán and Puerto Carreño), 10% from the Amazon region (Leticia, La Pedrera) and 1.7% from the Pacific region (MADR 2008). Genetic resources Biodiversity offers stable and permanent sources of basic genetic material made up of wild genetic resources and varieties of ancestral crops, conserved and developed by traditional and local communities (Torres et al. 2004). The genetic diversity found in these traditional varieties constitute a direct service of biodiversity, as the basis of the production of foodstuffs and they likewise serve to cushion the effects of and help us adapt to climate change (FAO 2008). In this sense, phytogenetic resources with alimentary uses show an enormous variety of wild relatives and autochthonous varieties of cultivated species. For example, although maize and fríjol beans originated in Mexico and Peru, respectively, there are a dozen varieties of both maize and frijoles that may be regarded as Colombian. The same is true of “papa criolla” (the small, yellow “Creole” potato); different Colombian fruits (mora berries, guavas, lulos, uchuvas, “tree tomatoes”, annonas, avocadoes and pineapples); and roots and Andean tubers (cassava, arracacha, olluco, mashua, achira), which, while they are found in neighboring Andean countries, have some genotypes exclusive to Colombia (Debouck pers. comm. 2010) 5 .

With regard to zoogenetic resources, due to its enormous diversity of micro-environments, Colombia has produced an important number of distinctive biotypes of different livestock species, depending on their environmental conditions, so that more efficient and competitive races are created in each particular niche (MADR et al. 2003). Natural Ingredients, Medicinal Plants, Pharmaceutical Products and Cosmetic Products Approximately 156 species of medicinal and aromatic plants are commercialized in the country, of which 41% are regarded as native species. In addition, 40% of the commercialized species are currently on the list of authorized plants of the Colombian National Institute for the Surveillance of Medicaments and Foodstuffs (Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos –INVIMA) (Olaya-Álvarez 2006), which has approved 119 plants for medicinal use that make up the Colombian vade mecum of medicinal plants which are widely used and sold in the country and have a strong export potential (Díaz 2003). Additionally, the use of fresh or dehydrated aromatic plants, as well as oils, colorants, honeys, extracts and many other products is growing in Colombia and the world (Gómez and Ortega 2007, Fondo Biocomercio and Redes Agro Empresariales y Territorio – RAET – of the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University 2009). As an example, in 2007 it was estimated that the total value of the European and United States markets for natural beverages and foods, to which Colombia has exported nearly 17 million dollars of products annually, may rise to 22 billion and 27.5 billion dollars/year, respectively (Gómez and Ortega 2007). Water

The country has one of the largest supplies of hydric resources on the planet, in the form of an extensive network of rivers which cover the country, favorable conditions for the storage of subterranean waters, bodies of standing water and enormous stretches of wetlands (IDEAM 2010b). This supply is not spread evenly over the different regions of country, which is why conditions in the continental territory of Colombia range from zones which are short of waters to those with a great surplus of them insofar as the 5 Daniel Debouck. Leader, Genetic Resources Program, latter suffer periodical floods which last for a consiInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) derable time (IDEAM 2010b). 33

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SERVICES OF REGULATION AND SUPPORT Services of regulation are the benefits which result from the regulation of ecosystemic processes, including the maintenance of the quality of air, the regulation of climate, the control of erosion, the control of human diseases and the purification of water (MEA). Those of support, on the other hand, are services and ecological processes needed to supply and maintain the existence of the other ecosystemic services. These services manifest themselves in scales of time and space much broader than those of the rest, since they include processes like primary production, the formation of soils, the provision of habitats for species and the cycling of nutrients, among others (MEA 2005).

protected areas include four of the six most important confluences of water (estrellas hidrográficas) in the country and more than 62% of the sources of national aquifers; they also protect 7% of the lakes and natural marshes which contain 20% of the water resources which supply electricity to the country. The cost of regulating the flow rates in the protected areas is estimated at 700 billion pesos per year and the cost of reducing sedimentation 2.5 billion pesos per year, thus reducing the costs of supplying and treating water for municipal aqueducts. In addition to the above, of the total area of medium and large scale irrigation districts in the country, 176,745 hectares are supplied from water sources in the National Parks area (Carriazo et al. 2003).

Carbon capture and storage: Estimates of the contents or total reserves of carbon (aerial Hydrological Regulation: According to biomass) in Colombia which employ a middling estimates by the IDEAM (2010B), the average hydro- level of detail (Tier 2, according to the IPCC) show logical yield in the country is 63 l/s-Km2, which is 6 that its natural forests store about 7,459,762,323 t C, times that of the world average (10 l/s-Km2) and thrice when one employs the Holdridge life zone classificathat of Latin America (21 l/s-Km2). The total volume tion, with a margin of error in the estimates of 14.3% of rainfall in the country rises to 3,700 Km3/year, of (IDEAM 2010C). The kinds of forest which store the which 61% turns into surface run-off (an average largest amount of carbon in their aerial biomass are flow rate of 71,800 m3/s or 2,265 Km3/year) (IDEAM the humid tropical forest (6,239, 655,586 t C), the 2010b). The Pacific is the region with the country´s very humid tropical forest (372,958,761 t C) and the highest hydrological yield (124 l/s-Km2), followed by very humid premontane forest (215,562,351 t C). For the regions of the Orinoco, the Caribbean (55 l/s-Km2), the areas of the SINAP, the service of carbon capture the Catatumbo and the Magdalena-Cauca basin (46 creates economic benefits of $830,000 to $2, 500,000 l/s-Km2 and 35 l/s-Km2) (IDEAM 2010b). pesos per protected hectare (Carriazo et al. 2003).

With regard to bodies of lentic waters, their surface area in Colombia is 831,163.7 hectares, of which 397,613.7 correspond to marshes, 51,186.3 reservoirs, 123,412 lakes and 258,273 to swamps. The Magdalena-Cauca rivers basin is the region with the largest area of lentic bodies (48%), followed by the geographical area of the Amazon and the Orinoco (around 22% each) (IDEAM 2010b). In addition, the supply of subterranean water in the country is on the order of 5,848 Km3, with the hydro-geographical area of the llanos orientales (eastern plains) showing the largest supply (239.06 m3x1010), followed by the Eastern Cordillera (90.07 m3x1010) and Caguán Putumayo (66.11 m3x1010) (IDEAM 2010b). The areas that fall within the National System of National Parks –SPNN – directly supply 31% of Colombia´s population with water and indirectly supply 50% of its population. Likewise, these 34

Despite being the foundation of and necessary condition for the existence of the other ecosystemic services, the ecosystemic services of support have not been sufficiently appreciated or studied. These services are not only essential for the functioning of natural ecosystems but they also constitute an important resource for the sustainable management of agricultural and stock-rearing systems (FAO 2009), one which has not been recognized or valued in country´s productive systems, despite its importance.

CULTURAL SERVICES These are the intangible benefits obtained from ecosystems, in the form of spiritual enrichment, scenic beauty, artistic and intellectual inspiration, cognitive development, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experiences (MEA 2005).

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Ecosystemic context of ethnic cultural development: Colombia is both a megadiverse and a multicultural and pluri-ethnic country. Traditional systems of knowledge of biodiversity form a complex and socially regulated set of values, knowledge, practices, technologies and innovations, historically developed by peoples and communities about the biodiversity which they directly depend on in order to live. These bodies of knowledge about biodiversity are expressed in the gathering and transformation of wild products, traditional agriculture, stock-rearing activities, natural medicine and hunting and fishing, all of which are activities developed by the communities to guarantee their own subsistence (Sánchez 2003). Recreation and tourism: According to the World Travel & Tourism Council – WTCC – it is

expected that the demand for travel and tourism in Colombia will show an annual growth rate of 4.5% between 2006 and 2015, rising from US$ 9.8 billion to US$ 14.3 billion in 2015, and thus surpassing the rate of 4.1% expected for Latin America. Ecotourism accounts for 7% of total world tourism, whose value is estimated at US$ 514 billion per year (Gómez and Ortega 2007). In this field, the country shows a trend of growing visits to natural regions like national parks or bird-watching expeditions. It is estimated that an average of 411, 476 people annually visit the areas of the National Parks System alone and that the total annual benefits from ecotourism vary within a range of between $2.3 and $6.9 billion Colombian pesos (Carriazo et al. 2003). These results show the strong potential for earnings from these activities for the inhabitants of rural zones as well as those who live in the areas of influence of parks and natural reserves.

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POLICY APPROACH

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (GIBSE) The Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (GIBSE) is defined as the process by which one plans, executes and monitors the actions needed to conserve biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, in a given social and territorial scenario and in different states of conservation, with the aim of maximizing human well-being by maintaining the resilience of socio-ecological systems on the national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales (Figure 6). In this way, one sets forth a framework of action which allows for the creation of a balance between the different interests society has with regard to biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecosystemic services which derive from it and are crucial to human welfare, following the principles found in the ecosystemic approach6 proposed by the Biodiversity Convention. In this manner, the idea that the management of biodiversity is the exclusive concern of the environmental sector and falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the natural sciences gives way to a management which encourages social and sectorial co-responsibility, and thus fosters social participation and the recognition of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services as a public value, and acknowledges and incorporates aspects related to it into the planning of short, medium and long term actions, in order to increase productivity and national competitiveness in a sustainable way, and at the same time protect and maintain the natural and cultural riches of the country (Annexes 1 and 2). 6 The ecosystemic approach is defined as a strategy for the integrated management of lands, areas of water and live resources which promotes conservation and sustainable use. In this approach, human beings, with their cultural diversity, are recognized to be an integral component of ecosystems (MEA 2005).

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (GIBSE) Biodiversity has a concrete territorial expression (ecosystems, species and individuals) in any region or municipality of the country. This wealth has been the base and framework of the context in which different cultures have evolved, giving rise to diverse cultural manifestations in the length and breadth of Colombian territory. This close relationship, manifested on different scales, is expressed and understood as the interdependent relation between ecological and social systems in which biodiversity gives shape to culture and culture, in turn, transforms and structures the spatial arrangement of biodiversity. In order to implement the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services in a territory, one must start by acknowledging this interdependent relation among each of the actions, that is, understand and analyze any territory as a socio-ecosystem, and therefore human beings and their cultures must be regarded as integral parts of biodiversity. The relationship between the ecological and social systems is established through the continual supply of ecosystemic services (provisioning, regulation, cultural ones and support) which the ecological system provides on different scales and which are crucial for the maintenance of human welfare, and from another angle, the different actions undertaken by human beings to guarantee the conservation of the biodiversity from which these ecosystemic services derive, as well as the pressures on biodiversity caused by anthropic (manmade) activities (Figure 7). At this point, it is important to specify that the conservation of biodiversity is a concept which transcends the view that it exclusively has to do with the preservation of nature. For the GIBSE, conservation must be understood and managed as an evolving characteristic, resulting from the balance between actions for preservation, sustainable use, the production of knowledge and the restoration of biodiversity 37

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Figure 6. General diagram of an Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services – GIBSE – which shows its influence not only on traditional actions to maintain, improve and manage the states in which biodiversity is found (growth, maintenance, reorganization and collapse) (Resilience Alliance 2007; Matteucci 2004) but also the need to act on the human activities which create demands on biodiversity and generate the engines of loss and transformation, so that a balanced relationship between natural supply and the demand from use is maintained and a good supply of ecosystemic services which help to improve human well-being is guaranteed. It is worth clarifying that in each state of biodiversity, the ecosystemic services will be of a different kind. Likewise, the magnitude, intensity and frequency with which they are provided will be different.

Figure 7. Diagram of the socio-ecological approach to biodiversity management, where there is an acknowledgment of the close relationship between social and ecological systems, which is measured by the ecosystemic services derived from biodiversity and the actions for its conservation. Adapted from Berkes et al. 2003.

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KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION

RESTORATION

CONSERVATION

PRESERVATION

SUSTAINABLE USE

Figure 8. The conservation of biodiversity as an emerging element of preservation, sustainable use, restoration and the creation of knowledge.

(Figure 8), in a manner which maintains or strengthens the resilience of socio-ecological systems and with it, the supply of ecosystemic services fundamental to human welfare. It is worth clarifying that, depending on the situation of each territory, the actions needed to conserve biodiversity may vary, from cases where the four actions just mentioned are necessary to others where only one or two may be.

maintain the same function, structure, identity and feedback (Folke et al. 2004), thus increasing their ability to learn and adapt to change (Carpenter et al. 2004), so that they maintain and increase the supply of ecosystemic services. In this scenario, it is recognized that there are no static equilibriums in Nature and that change and uncertainty are decisive factors that should be taken into account by the GIBSE (Figure 9).

Resilience refers to the capacity of socioTo speak of the resilience of a socio-ecoloecosystems to absorb shocks and reorganize themselves gical system implies that the shocks are recognized as while they carry out changes which enable them to an inherent feature of the dynamic of biodiversity and

Figure 9. Scenarios of change in the resilience of two different kinds of ecosystems and their effects from the viewpoint of the quantity and quality of the ecosystemic services derived from biodiversity. (Adapted from Elmqvist et al. 2003).

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NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

govern the temporal nature of successional processes (Holling et al. 1995), which do not evidence a long-term stability and whose dynamic goes through different states (maintenance, collapse, reorganization and growth), which may be interpreted as part of cycles of change in which the physical, biological and cultural components are continually reorganizing themselves to allow for the permanent adaptation of socio-ecological systems (Holling 2001, Gunderson and Holling 2002, Calvente 2007) (Figure 6).

the ordering of the country´s marine and coastal areas, so that the supply of a good amount of ecosystemic services of high quality may be ensured through the integral management of the territory (a heterogeneous mosaic of productive systems and natural ecosystems). This socio-ecological structuring must start with the dynamic and adaptive nature of the processes, so that uncertainty should be an integral part of the GIBSE. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand that management must take into account the dynamic connectivity between scales of time and space in order In addition, the most concrete expression to ensure that the resilience of the socio-ecological of implementing the GIBSE to ensure conservation and systems is maintained. This scalar connectivity means with it, territorial sustainability, should be territorial that the activities which are developed on local scales ordering, since it is through this political-adminismay come to have synergic effects on larger scales of trative tool that one guides and plans joint physical a regional or global kind when they combine with actions which guide the development of the territory other local events (for example, species loss, contaand regulate the use, transformation and occupation of mination). In the same way, events which take place space, in accordance with strategies for socio-economic on larger scales may have impacts on local scales by development and in harmony with the environment modifying the regimes to which the local activities are and historical and cultural traditions (adapted from adapted (for example, climate change). In some cases, Law 388 of 1997). Thus, all of the actions carried out the effects of such activities may be noticed immediato ensure the conservation of biodiversity must be tely, while in other cases these changes will only occur contextualized in the framework of a process for the in the long term. environmental ordering of the territory (Law 99/93), where biodiversity is the most relevant consideration, Furthermore, the socio-ecological strucfor being the main feature in structuring processes of turing of the territory resulting from the GIBSE also territorial ordering, insofar as it is the source of and requires strengthening processes of participation and guarantee for the supply of ecosystemic services which governance, based on the acknowledgment not only are crucial for the development and sustainability of of the biophysical differences between territories but human activities of production, extraction, settlement also the different systems of knowledge8 and ancestral and consumption. use of those territories -- which also should be incorThe territorial ordering of territory is porated into such management – in order to optimize materialized in the socio-ecological structuring of the capacity of management from local scales to higher the territory, a process which will not only allow for ones of a regional, national or global kind and allow the definition of a main ecological structure7 (envi- for the creation of strategies for the transformation ronmental determinants and other lands that serve of socio-environmental conflicts and facilitate the for protection) which constitutes the basic territorial development of processes which culminate in an effec“framework” for guaranteeing the conservation of biodi- tive conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic versity (Decree 3600 of 2007) but also defines a number services. In this way, one of the main contributions of guidelines for the environmental management of of the GIBSE is its recognition that the production of all the other kinds of land use in a municipality (rural, knowledge and information about the conservation of suburban, urban, urban expansion), as well as ones for biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, and likewise 7 The Main Ecological Structure is defined as the group of biotic and abiotic elements which support the territory´s essential ecological processes, whose principal aim is the preservation, conservation, restoration, use and sustainable management of the renewable natural resources which furnish the capacity to support the socio-economic development of populations (Decree 3600 of 2007).

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8 Scientific, expert, traditional and/or local systems of knowledge are expressions of mental models derived from ways of interiorizing, systematizing and symbolizing the experience of different actors through the historic process which has established the relationships between the ecological and social systems, and thus serve to acknowledge a reality that is more complex than the one only attained in the scientific or academic ambit.

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the decision-making process, should be shared by a wide variety of actors in our society, who also should be explicitly included as legitimate interlocutors, even if their expectations with regard to biodiversity are contradictory. Additionally, the GIBSE recognizes that men, women, boys, girls and adolescents are distinct members of society, with different interests and a different influence on the territory, which implies multiple scenarios and alternatives for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. Thus, for example, men and women utilize, preserve, have knowledge of and participate in the ecosystemic services offered by biodiversity in a different manner, which results in the incorporation of different areas of knowledge, skills and experience; and they also meet different needs, and all this promotes democracy, justice, social inclusion, peaceful coexistence and a sustainable human development, since an inclusive territorial planning will significantly contribute to the creation of fairness and foment a culture of peace (Sasvari et al. 2010; Rodríguez et. al 2004). Moreover, the incorporation of variables like resilience, uncertainty and change into the management of biodiversity on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales which has been proposed by the GIBSE implies promoting changes in institutional functioning, in order to encourage intra- and interinstitutional links and efforts to improve the adaptive capacity of institutions so that, in this way, they may learn, innovate and be flexible with their management mechanisms in the face of the social, economic, ecosystemic and political changes which occur on different spatial and temporal scales. The design and implementation of systems for a continuous follow-up and periodical evaluation of the GIBSE help to strengthen the institutions´ adaptive capacity, as a characteristic of the social system which allows for the undertaking of effective actions in the territory for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. All this acknowledgment of the social component which the GIBSE entails culminates in a necessary recognition of the need to evaluate the benefits supplied by ecosystems, or the costs which their loss implies, with the aim of improving or heightening perceptions of the value which biodiversity and its ecosystemic services have, thus strengthening the participation in and co-responsibility for its conservation among the different social and sectorial actors.

In this way, one seeks to arrive at the conception of biodiversity as a public value (Kelly and Muers 2003), that is, a scenario for the encounter between the State and citizens (urban and rural), where their relations are strengthened and there is an optimization of the capacity of response, juridical security, social responsibility and the derived and collateral benefits which are obtained as a result of its conservation, so that it effectively contributes to the achievement of the objectives of reducing inequality and poverty, strengthening democratic States and the citizenry, and overcoming the old idea that biodiversity is a good that is only the responsibility of public sector entities. In this view, its assessment cannot exclusively be limited to the valuation of its monetary worth, but, on the contrary, it should also include qualitative analyses and physical indicators (TEEB 2010), thus promoting an integral evaluation of ecosystemic services, that is, one which takes into account not only the economic aspects but also the non-economic values of biodiversity (Figure 10). Furthermore, it is important to take into account that many social and ecological relations are not linear and that when resilience is reduced, the socio-ecological system becomes more vulnerable and smaller changes may progressively cause larger ones, leading the system into a different state and forming thresholds of stability and change9, that is, critical values or ranges for a given social or ecological variable which the system stays within during a given phase or state, or which, once they are surpassed, cause the whole system to rapidly and abruptly change from one state to another, different one which changes the magnitude, intensity and frequency of the ecosystemic services it supplies (Folke et al. 2004; Bennet and Radford 2004; Hugget 2005) (Figures 6 and 9). The identification of thresholds of change must enter into making decisions about the appraisement and valuation of the benefits which the exploitation of a given ecosystemic service may bring, in the face of possible 9 As examples of the kinds of thresholds which may be identified to guide the management of biodiversity, there are thresholds for the extinction of species (Tilman et al. 1994; Fahrig 2001, 2001), thresholds for the fragmentation of habitat (Andrén 1994, 1999), thresholds for the connectivity between patches of native ecosystems (With & Crist 1995; Metzger & Décamps 1997; Schultz & Crone 2005) and thresholds for the presence of a given species (Hansen et al. 1995; Bütler 2004; Guénette & Villard 2004, 2005; Mendoza 2007).

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Figure 10. Diagram of the integral valuation (economic and non-economic) of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. Source: TEEB, 2008.

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negative impacts in the short, medium or long term on other ecosystemic services (“trade offs”) (Neville et al. 2010). Thus, in the GIBSE the precautionary principle is fundamental, since the uncertainty associated with a socio-ecosystem´s movement through the states of the adaptive cycle (Figure 6) may mean that a poor interpretation of the threshold values in decision-making may entail negative consequences for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (Lindenmayer and Luck 2005). The direct effect on biodiversity of human activities of settlement, production and extraction have led the limits for the transformation of or extraction from socio-ecological systems to be surpassed or to approach that condition, so that they go beyond the thresholds of stability and change, and create new states where human well-being and survival are being endangered or are even already gravely affected. These human activities act as direct drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity10,

and their isolated and/or combined action has caused the current scenarios of environmental global change (Vitousek 1994; Vitousek et al. 1997; Steffen et al. 2004; Duarte et al. 2006). In general terms, five main and direct drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity, which are typified on a global level, have been identified (MEA, Table 7).

10 The direct drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity should be recognized as processes which affect the spatial occurrence of biodiversity in a specific territory and its manifestations in genes, species and ecosystems. These typically occur as changes in the surface or quality of ecosystems, usually as the consequence of such processes as the loss of ecosystems or habitats, invasions of exotic species, the overexploitation of the resources and services derived from biodiversity and the contamination of the same. Some direct drivers are also characteristic of Nature and beyond human control, like tsunamis, telluric phenomena and volcanic eruptions.

Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) is a focus for strengthening and maintaining the capacity to adapt to environmental change (including climate change) of socio-ecosystems and reducing the risk of their degradation or collapse. It integrates the sustai-

In the face of these scenarios of global environmental change, the GIBSE must consider and promote actions for mitigation and adaptation to suitable scales which tend to reduce the risks associated with the loss and transformation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. In that sense, the ecosystems-based approaches which have been proposed to mitigate and adapt to climate change 11 (UICN 2008: CDB 2009; World Bank 2009; Andrade 2010) may also conceptually guide actions aimed at confronting all of the threats which typify environmental change.

11 Adaptation and mitigation are measures which may be complementary, interchangeable or independent. However, one is never a perfect substitute for the other, because mitigation is always necessary to avoid dangerous or irreplaceable changes in climatic (IPCC 2007) and socio-ecological systems.

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Table 7. Direct drivers and some of the causes identified for Colombia and their equivalents on a global scale. Direct drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services seen on a global scale (MEA 2005)

Direct drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services seen on a national scale and their manifestations in Colombia. DRIVER 1. Changes in the use of territories (continental or aquatic), their occupation and fragmentation of their ecosystems

1. Transformation and loss of ecosystems and natural habitats.

Direct transformation and loss of natural or semi-natural ecosystems. Transformation of productive systems which maintain elements and processes of biodiversity. Infrastructure developments Dams and changes in water courses DRIVER 2. Reduction, loss or degradation of elements of native ecosystems and agroecosystems.

2. Over – exploitation

Overuse of populations of species (terrestrial and marine) Degradation of ecosystems Loss of genetic diversity of cultigens and varieties DRIVER 3. Biological invasions

3. Biological invasions

Introduction and transplantation of species Introduction and release of Modified Live Organisms DRIVER 4. Contamination and toxification

nable use of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services OPERATIONALIZATION into a global strategy of adaptation (CBD 2009). This OF THE GIBSE adaptation is seen as a fundamental aspect of the On a national level the GIBSE will require creation of a resilient society (Andrade 2010) and that the actions for the conservation of biodiversity for that aim, the main objectives of the EbA are: i) and its ecosystemic services not only be carried out To promote the resilience of ecosystems, ii) maintain ecosystemic services, iii) support sectorial adaptation, by the environmental sector but also by the produciv) reduce risks and natural disasters and v) avoid tive sectors. The recognition of the role which society in general and each productive sector has in the realipoor adaptation. zation of a co-responsible territorial management, Ecosystem-based Mitigation (EbM) is which allows for the conservation of biodiversity on based on the capacity which all ecosystems have to a national, regional and local level, is a fundamental stop or reduce the causes which threaten the struc- point in achieving the sustainability of the economic tural and functional integrity of socio-ecosystems and activities of the main line items of the national economy put the resilience of biodiversity at risk and in the (agriculture/stock-rearing and extractive industries), end, of the supply of services derived from it. As was as well as maintaining the ecosystemic services which mentioned above, the original development of this are fundamental for the welfare of society in general. concept was applied, almost exclusively, to climate In this sense, the harmonization of this policy with change, where the role of ecosystems in catching other instruments of sectorial policy is fundamental and storing greenhouse-effect gases (GHG) is clearly for deciding which actions for the conservation of evident. Nevertheless, the sound state of ecological biodiversity and its ecosystemic services should be systems and their ecosystemic services of regula- incorporated into the sectorial actions associated with tion and support help to mitigate other impacts like production, so that they do not endanger biodiversity contamination, bio-geo-chemical changes in soils and reduce the vulnerability of sectors to the shortage and biological invasions, among others. of ecosystemic services caused by the drivers of the 43

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Table 8. Main instruments of sectorial policy in Colombia which must be linked and harmonized with this policy in order to carry out an effective GIBSE on a national level. Instrument of Sectorial Policy

Strategic lines of the sectorial policy that need to be linked with the GIBSE

Agriculture/Stock-rearing Policy 2010 – 2014 • Creation of incomes for the rural population • Strengthening of the competitiveness of agriculture/stock-rearing • Expansion and diversification of domestic and foreign markets • Fairness in regional development • Management of risk in agriculture/stock-rearing Food and Nutritional Security Policy

• Stability in the supply and development of the food/agriculture market • Support for associative and managerial approaches to create jobs and incomes which facilitate the availability of and access to food • Improving the access of vulnerable sectors of the population to productive factors. • Guaranteed Access to Food • Promotion and protection of health and nutrition, and encouragement of healthy lifestyles. • Improved public services, a cleaner environment and healthy surroundings. • Ensuring the quality and harmlessness of foodstuffs • Scientific and technological development • Development of human capabilities, potentials and powers

National Plan for Mining Development and direct foreign investment in the country 2019

• Reduce the vulnerability of the Colombian energy sector in all energy supply chains and increase the availability and reliability of energy • Exploit Colombian energy resources with criteria of sustainability, taking into account new world tendencies which may benefit the country • Harmonize the institutional framework for the implementation of the national energy policy

transformation and loss of biodiversity which typify environmental change (Table 8). In addition, the ecological structuring of territory, the main result of an adequate GIBSE on the mainly regional and local scales, will have to be guided by the Regional Biodiversity Action Plans (PARGIBSE), which will be formulated or updated by the Autonomous Regional Corporations (CAR) and the Sustainable Development Corporations (CDS), and Urban Environmental Authorities (AAU), so that they turn into the “road map” which guides the management of these institutions and guarantees the conservation of biodiversity (ecosystems, species, genes) and its ecosystemic services on regional and 44

local scales. To formulate them, the PARGIBSE will have to be conceptually and strategically linked with this Policy and with its National Action Plan (see page 97). These Regional Plans will be formulated in a participatory manner and periodically evaluated (every four years or so) and will count on a system for continuous follow-up through indicators of state, pressure and response. The PARGIBSE will have to be the basis for the prioritization and definition of the actions in the Regional Environmental Management Plan (PGAR) and the Quadrennial Action Plan of the environmental authority (PAC). Likewise, the PARGIBSE will contain the guidelines and actions for the management and

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

conservation of the components of biodiversity of importance for the region. It will incorporate and develop the actions needed for the ecological structuring of the territory and incorporate guidelines for the management of the risks associated with biodiversity loss and the shortage of ecosystemic services which result from the drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity. The POMCA (Decree 1729 of 2002), or the Management Plan of the UAC, will have to be linked with the PARGIBSE and take up its guidelines for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (especially those related to the protection of the cycle of regulation of waters) and incorporate them into the Plans, Basic Plans and Schemes of Municipal Territorial Ordering (Law 388, Chapter IV), treating

them as environmental determinants of such ordering and environmental guidelines to ensure conservation in the other types of land uses and the identification of protective lands (Figure 11). The other tools for regional planning established by the CARs, CDSs and AAUs -- such as the plans for the ordering of forestry (POF) and water resources (POHR), and the plans for the clean-up and management of spillages (PSMV), as well as the activities deriving from those instruments -- will also have to be linked with the PARGIBSE in the areas of the conservation of the ecosystems and ecosystemic services those instruments focus on (for example, the supply and quality of water, timber and non-timber products, potential impacts of the disposal of solid wastes, etc).

45

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

PNGIBSE

National Level

National environmental policy for the sustainable development of the oceanic spaces and coastal and island zones of Colombia

e, H arm on i zat

ion ,

Up

dat in

g

National Forests Policy

kag

Formulation and Implementation

National Policy for the Inland Wetlands of Colombia National Policy for the Integral Management of Water Resources Wild Fauna Policy National Action Plan for the Fight against Desertiﬁcation and Drought in Colombia

Lin

National Plan for Forestry Development

PANGIBSE

CONPES 3125

National Plan for the Collections of the Botanical Gardens of Colombia

ag Link

National Plan for Migratory Species

arm

e, H

National Plan for the Prevention-Control of Forest Fires and Restoration of Aﬀected Area

ting

pda

n, U

atio

oniz

Programs for conservation and management of species

Programs for conservation and management of species

Program for the Sustainable Management and Restoration of the High Mountain Ecosystems of Colombia National Program for Sustainable Bio-Commerce

Biotechnology CONPES

National Plan for the Restoration of Ecosystems

Formulation and Implementation

UNESCO “Man and the Biosphere” Program (MaB) National Program for the Sustainable Use, Management and Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystems National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of the Illegal Traﬃcking of Species

Regional Level (CARs)

Basis of Formulation

PGAR PAT

PARGIBSE Conservation Criteria

POMCA and/or UACs Management Plans

POHR PM (Ecosystems) POF PSMV

Environmental Determinants

Departamental Level

Guidelines and Orientations for the Ordering of the Whole or Speciﬁc Parts of Territories (Art. 29, Law 1454/11) Environmental Determinants

Municipal / Local Level

POT

Figure 12. Diagram of the relationship of scale and linkage between the PNGIBSE and the PARGIBSE and the territorial management of the Autonomous Regional Corporations, Municipalities and Departments.

46

STRATEGIC DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS AND ANALYSIS OF THEIR RELATIONS

FACTORS OF THE ZONE OF POWER

These factors are characterized by being little dependent and strongly influential, which turns them into key factors (decisive in the system) for strengWith the use of a problem-tree analysis thening the PNGIBSE. Any action which is taken on (which led to the identification of loss and transfor- these factors will have repercussions on the whole mation as the main problems for biodiversity and its system (Figure 12). The factors found in this zone were: ecosystemic sevices in Colombia), along with inputs generated by and systematized through a participatory ACCESS TO AND QUALITY OF study undertaken with productive sectors, universities, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE (ACIC) environmental NGOs, ministries, regional environThe efforts which the country has taken mental authorities, indigenous and Afro-Colombian to encourage Activities of Science, Technology and communities and the civil society, plus the support of Innovation (ACTI) continue to be insufficient and the German International Cooperation Agency, GIZ concentrated in the big cities. For example, while (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusamme- Colombian investment in ACTI between 2000 and narbeit), an exercise in identifying and establishing 2008 rose from 0.31% to 0.37% of the GDP, the average priorities for factors was carried out (that is, areas in Latin America and the Caribbean rose from 0.75% which take up and synthesize several of the sets of to 1.07% (Universia 2011). Nevertheless, the country the problems on the problem tree), with the aim of currently has 351 research groups registered with identifying those which are most important in terms Colciencias (the Colombian Institute of Sciences), of their degree of influence on and interrelation with which are working on subjects related to biological the other factors and which determine the trend and/ sciences, 254 working on subjects related to agriculor the current state of biodiversity and its ecosys- tural sciences and 138 biotechnology research groups. temic services in Colombia. To develop this process, The latter are especially working on species of coffee, a mental map of problem sets was built, using the forage, cassava, sugar cane, roses and potatoes (De Frederic Vester Matrix (or “paper computer”) and Peña 2008). the Axial Scheme. The processing of the information Additionally, there is an important group was done through use of Mic Mac software, Version of journals specializing in dissemination, as well as 6.1.2 – 2003 –2004. other media which spread knowledge of biodiversity The analysis of the relations between the and its state. There stand out “Caldasia” (of the Instiidentified factors allowed the study to establish the tute of Natural Sciences – ICN), “Biota Colombiana” degree of influence of those located in the zones of (IAvH, INVEMAR and the Missouri Botanical Garden) power, work and linkage on the factors of the result and the bulletin of the Colombian Academy of Exact, and of the latter on each other (Figure 12) in a way Physical and Natural Sciences. These three periodical that enabled these relations to guide the structuring of publications published 80.7% of the 142 articles on the strategic diagnosis and inspire the objectives and flora between 1998 and 2008. Another journal imporstrategic lines of the policy. There follows a description tant for scientific dissemination is “Pérez Arbelezia”, of each of the zones of influence, the variables identi- published by the Bogotá Botanical Garden, as well as fied in each one and the current state of the problems “Ornitología Colombiana”, the first indexed scientific publication exclusively devoted to Colombian birds. associated with those factors in Colombia. 49

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However, the number of such Colombian publications continues to be very low. According to the “Knowledge for Development” data base of the World Bank –K4D – (consulted 03/2011), the annual number of scientific articles published by Colombia in indexed magazine between 2003 and 2007 was 401.3 on average, while in countries like Mexico it was 3930.6 and in Germany 44, 181.4. The average number of articles in indexed publications per million inhabitants between 2003 and 2007 was 9.3 in Colombia, while it was 38.13 in Mexico and 535.7 in Germany (Ordúz-Medina 2010). Moreover, Colombia´s capacity for innovation on the level of invention is one of the lowest in the hemisphere, where the number of patent applications made by non-residents (for example, multinational companies which seek patenting in several countries at the same time) is considerably higher than the number of patent applications by Colombian residents (Ordoñez). Between 2003 and 2007, the average annual number of Colombian patents granted by the USPTO (The United States Patent and Trademark Office) was only 8.8, while the number of German patents was 10,477 and Korean patents, 5,433 (Ordúz-Medina 2010).

Information System (SIB), which is an integral part of the SIAC as an open network for access to information, in general its development has been oriented towards the environmental and academic sector, and it has not managed to position itself as a tool for or enter into decision-making about biodiversity, especially in other sectors.

This “broken bridge” between access to, kinds and quality of information and knowledge, on the one hand, and institutional management capacity, on the other, may be due, among other factors, to the fact that a large part of the information and knowledge which is produced appears in a wording, language and format that seems to be intended, almost exclusively, to satisfy the needs of the scientific community and thus is not adjusted to the needs and capacities of decision makers (Meijaard and Scheil 2007; Pendergast et al. 1999; Sayer 2009; Murcia and Kattan 2009; Mendoza et al. 2010). This situation is also partly responsible for the fact that the State continues to focus all its capacity on establishing, following and enforcing norms or in the worst case, continues to make a number of mistakes in implementation, due to a weak It turns out to be paradoxical that while feedback from the system for managing knowledge the area of biodiversity is always present in the ACTI´s headed by the research institutes of the SINA. To this diagnoses, when it comes to developing strategy lines situation is added the little recognition, in national, for policy tools, the inclusion and harmonization of regional and local management, of other systems of priorities for research into biodiversity and its ecosys- knowledge, different to the scientific-academic kind, temic services disappear and their importance for as valid sources which contribute to local actions for improving competitiveness and aiding the productive territorial planning, the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services and adaptation to envitransformation of the country (CONPES 3582 of 2009, ronmental change. Decree 2370 of 2009) is never made clear, nor its aid to sustainable development and the improvement of In its efforts at an inventory and charachuman welfare. In that manner, while current efforts terization of biodiversity, the country has been in the field of access to and types and quality of infor- progressing, especially at the level of ecosystems and mation and knowledge have mostly focused on trying species (Chaves and Arango 1997, Chaves and Santato characterize and understand the complex relation- maría 2006, Romero and Ortiz 2008, IDEAM 2004, ships at the heart of ecological systems, or between IDEAM and Institutes 2007, IAvH 2008, Rangel Ch. those and society (factors placed in the Results Zone 1995, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007a, 2007b, 2008, 2009, 2010a – Figure 12), and without losing sight of the fact that and 2010b, Maldonado et al. 2008, Etter 1998, Etter et knowledge of biodiversity which is useful for its preser- al. 2008; Fandiño and Van Wijngaarden 2005, Rodrívation and sustainable use has considerably increased guez et al. 2006, Romero et al. 2004, Invemar 2007, in the country, much of the information still does not Díaz et al. 2000, Díaz and Garzón 2006, SINCHI 2007, manage to enter into decision-making in a way that Villarreal et al. 2004, Maldonado et al. 2005, among would allow for improved management and meanwhile, others), although it still has a long way to go before biodiversity continues to diminish and degrade and the inventory can be regarded as complete. In the be little valued by the civil society and the productive face of the enormous challenges represented by the sectors. In this sense, although large advances have advance of economic activities regarded as “engines been made in the consolidation of the Biodiversity of development” (DNP 2011) and the management 50

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aimed at maintaining the resilience of socio-ecological systems (territories) in a manner that guarantees the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, the elaboration of maps of ecosystems at detailed scales (1:100,000 up to 1:25, 000 or higher) is fundamental for the spatial management of biodiversity on all scales. It is also important to strengthen knowledge and information about the functional relations between the components of biodiversity, patterns of distribution, habitat use, the movement of species through the landscape and the potential thresholds of stability or change (Renjifo 1999, Mendoza et al. 2006, Numa et al. 2005, Renjifo 2001, among others). In the latter case, national experiences are still meager and are limited to some academic ones (Mendoza 2007). Likewise, the country knows very little about the supply of ecosystemic services (their intensity, magnitude, frequency and temporality) and the ecological processes and assemblages of species/ ecosystems which support those services. The information gathered in the country during the processes of elaborating environmental impact studies (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Evaluations (EAE) is not compiled, validated and incorporated in a manner that would contribute to the process of making a national inventory of biodiversity. By the same token, knowledge about the genetic and molecular patrimony of the nation, in terms of its potential for strategies for the use, preservation and restoration of biodiversity, is still limited, generally due to normative and cultural barriers to access to genetic material. This is the case with decision 391 of the CAN (1996). The knowledge required for the effective use of these kinds of resources in the country is limited, despite the fact that in this area there has been a significant advance in human capital, the establishment of laboratories specializing in genetic research and the creation and implementation of protocols for their study.

table distribution of benefits, incoherence of norms and environmental deficits left by productive activities, among others. Unfortunately, the management capacity of public institutions in Colombia is regarded as and oriented almost exclusively to a scheme of governability based on the creation of and compliance with norms, that is, a model based almost exclusively on command and control, which tries to confront the problems found in the Results Factors (Practices of Use and Management; State and Conservation, Use and Occupation of Territory) with the expectation of changing their behavior, without taking the real, underlying causes into account, which lie in other factors of the system (Zones of Power and Work) and productive sectorial activities (Figure 12). In terms of practices, the above has been causing a “divorce” between productive activities and the conservation of biodiversity and an increase in the risks associated with the loss of biodiversity and the supply of ecosystemic services. Another aspect to be taken into consideration is the environmental institutions´ weak capacity to adapt to change: they take too long to respond to territorial (socio-ecosystemic) changes, so that their management seems to be slow, insufficiently flexible, and resistant to change and with a low capacity for innovation.

Additionally, the absence of systems of evaluation and follow-up in the different tools of environmental management (Table 2) prevents them from knowing, with scientific certainty, the extent to which the implementation of these tools has resulted in success or failure. This situation has also meant that there is very little progress in the implementation of many of the actions outlined in them. For example, despite the fact that the Regional Biodiversity Action Plans (PRABs) were the main tool designed for the implementation of the PNB (1996), most of the Autonomous Corporations did not come up with THE MANAGEMENT CAPACITY OF one. Nevertheless, these have been valuable exerPUBLIC INSTITUTIONS (CGIP) cises in biodiversity planning on a regional scale for The management capacity of institutions the seven regions where the PRABs were formulated shows strengths and weaknesses which have enabled and implemented (Orinoco basin, southern Amazon, them, on the one hand, to strengthen the positioning Nariño, Cauca Valley, Quindío, Córdoba and North of the nation´s environmental concerns on the agendas Santander) and have enabled them not only to estaof development, but evidences, on the other, an exacer- blish agreements among the actors but also define the bation of the drivers of loss and transformation, as actions which are a priority for the conservation of well as expressions of different socio-environmental regional biodiversity. For example, the inter-instituconflicts about the use of and access to resources, equi- tional panel of the Orinoco region and the technical 51

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committees of Nariño and the southern Amazon are entities which have been created to ensure the continuity of the processes of planning and action, and to commit the regional institutions to enter into a process of coordination crucial for the development of the Plans. In this sense, the PARBs are tools which have sought to guide the actions not only of the CARs but also all the actors responsible for actions in regional development, with the aim that this will be a continuous and sustainable process (Aldana). However, the PRABs which have been formulated are still weak, especially with regard to the mechanisms of followup and adjustment, where only in the Plans of Nariño and the southern Amazon do we see advances in the establishment of criteria for the selection of indicators, drafting of guiding questions and preliminary selection of some indicators (Aldana 2011).

and Institutes 2007) marks an advance, by recognizing them to be areas which shelter biodiversity -- an aspect which is not often taken into account in the areas of the national parks system (Franco et al. 2006) – and provide important ecosystemic services and thus support production. However, they need to be continually updated and refined into more detailed scales, for example: 1: 100,000 and higher.

In the area of ex situ conservation, while the country has advanced in the formation of the National Network of Colombian Botanical Gardens (which groups together 26 of the country´s botanical gardens and acts as an advisory council and consultative council for the government), the National Program of ex situ Conservation for Colombian Zoos and Aquariums and the creation of a System of Germplasm Banks for Food and Agriculture, the linkage between In addition, although the ecosystemic in situ and ex situ conservation actions remains very approach12 of the CBD is what guides the management weak. In the area of ex situ conservation, most accesof biodiversity in the country (Law 165 of 1994), in sions to germplasm banks in the country are aimed Colombia this management has not been focused on at the genetic improvement of cultivated varieties. managing the resilience of territories (socio-ecosys- Thus, according to the FAO´s WIEWS system (2011), tems), but, on the contrary, has been especially focused 30 germplasm banks are reported for Colombia, with on the declaration of certain zones as protected areas 1253 reported species and 128, 319 reported accessions. or areas of special management, which, while it is a In the area of access to genetic resources, strategy very important for conservation, only covers a the management capacity of the institutions shows that portion of the territory where biodiversity is distributed and makes it difficult to attain an integral management we need to strengthen the activities and institutional of a heterogeneous mosaic of zones where every cove- framework surrounding the conservation of biological rage and use of land supplies a number of ecosystemic and genetic resources, their derivatives and the assoservices which contribute to territorial sustainability ciated traditional knowledge, as well as create clear tools to a lesser or greater extent. More recently, initiatives and mechanism which allow for and make practical the which seek to incorporate criteria for the conservation fair and equitable distribution of the benefits deriving of biodiversity into the heart of productive systems from those resources. Thus, between 2004 and 2011 have been implemented in the country, through the only 45 access contracts were signed, all for research use of ecological restoration and the implementation purposes. This situation will have to be substantially of tools for the management of the terrain (Rivera improved, within the framework of Colombia´s impleand Sinisterra 2006; Calle 2003; Lozano-Zambrano mentation of the Nagoya Protocol of the CBD, which 2010; MAVDT 2008, among others), although there aims at “at sharing the benefits arising from the utiliis still a need to go more deeply into the follow-up of zation of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, the contributions made by these tools to the conser- including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, vation of species and populations. taking into account all rights over those resources and In the case of the conservation of trans- to technologies, and by appropriate funding, thereby formed landscapes, the map of ecosystems (IDEAM contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components”. (CBD 2011). 12 The 12 principles of the ecosystemic approach are compiled and developed through the socio-ecosystemic approach of this policy, where the human being and his or her culture interact in an interdependent manner with ecological systems, constituting territories

52

With reference to the conservation of species, this has not been as successful as that of areas (ecosystems), although significant advances

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have been shown, based on the adoption of policies for the management of wild fauna and flora. In that respect, the need to establish indicators for the followup of the situation of some endangered species stands out, through changes in the categories laid down in the Red Books of the country´s endangered species, always within an ecosystemic context which does not encourage an independent management of species. Despite advances in the identification of biological invasions, institutional efforts to manage and control the problem have been weak so far. Furthermore, the management capacity of the institutions is frequently put to the test, due to the incoherent management of the themes of international conventions and agreements, since international negotiations on such themes, many of which have aspects in common (desertification, climate change, biodiversity, forests), are carried out in a disorganized way and the matters agreed on in one convention rarely serve as a basis for defining the country´s positions in negotiations of other international conventions and scenarios. This disorganized approach to such subjects often limits the country´s capacity to define and focus its needs for international cooperation for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. What is more, management of the conservation of the trans-frontier biodiversity shared with neighboring countries or the region can only be worked out in the Andean Community (CAN) or the Amazonian Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA) at the present time. Taking into account that the Colombian Andes is the source of most of the main tributaries of important rivers like the Amazon and Orinoco, there is a need to strengthen joint international actions with neighboring countries aimed at the conservation of ecosystems strategic for the region, such as the páramos (high Andean moors), mist forests, savannas and humid tropical forests.

AVAILABILITY OF AND CRITERIA FOR THE ALLOCATION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES (DCARF) The analysis of the factors showed that the State does not destine sufficient economic resources for the management of the public institutions directly responsible for environmental policy and the management of biodiversity. The financial resources allocated by the State are mainly concentrated on strengthening and developing economic and sectorial policies which promote activities like mining, energy development, agriculture and infrastructure, among others, enabling these sectors to be strengthened, often to the detriment of the ecological basis of the territories. Nevertheless, the insufficiency of financial resources for the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services may be worsened by the deficient assigning of priorities for and channeling of resources into investment, which strengthens the feeling, among the actors associated with environmental management, that the resources are too meager to produce an important positive effect on the Result Factors (Figure 12). Additionally, this financial allocation does not take into account the valuation that society might make of biodiversity, with the aim of establishing priorities, an aspect which encourages a situation where the sectors which make use of biodiversity still do not measure its strategic value, nor integrate this value into their processes for planning, production, management and allocation of resources.

In numerical terms, the main contribution to the financing of environmental management has been that of the different national sources --the national government, the regional and municipal environmental authorities and the territorial entities – which represents a little more than 90% of the country´s spending in this field of policy in the past decade. Spending on the functioning of and investment in State environFinally, it is necessary to underline the mental agencies between 2002 and 2008p, seen in terms importance of exerting an influence on the manage- of government spending on environmental protection ment capacity of the institutions as an input variable (GPA), rose from 3.394 billion pesos in 2000 to 6.436 which may have repercussions on the improvement billion pesos in 2007, which means that it rose from of social valuation, as well as the activities undertaken 0.33% of the GDP in 2000 to 0.42% in 2007 (DANE in the territory to maintain and improve the state of 2010). In addition, total public spending (current and biodiversity. It will be very difficult for the system to investment) on environmental protection in Colombia improve, measured in terms of the performance of rose from 695.237 billion pesos in 2000 to 1, 791.183 the variables in the Result Zone (Figure 12), so long billion in 2007 (DANE 2010). However, Colombian as management capacity is not applied in an integral public spending on the environment continues to fall and co-responsible manner. below international standards; for example, environ53

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mental spending represents 1% of the GDP in Mexico and Brazil. Nevertheless, with the new allocation of resources from the National Royalties Fund (10%) to finance projects of science, technology and innovation, the country´s investment in these areas may rise and come very close to 1% of the national GDP.

sector have considerably risen since 2006, going from 246 million pesos to $103.513 billion pesos in 2010. However, most of the resources are focused on coastal protection (6 projects, valued at 47.639 billion pesos, corresponding to 46% of the resources of the FNR) and reforestation projects (52 projects, valued at 33.297 billion pesos, corresponding to 32.2%). Areas like strategic ecosystems, territorial ordering and desertification only received 9.9%, 5.8% and 0.8%, respectively of these resources (MAVDT). The FCA, as a system of redistribution which has allowed for the financial strengthening of the 15 Corporations with small resources, had a budget allocation of $139.712 billion pesos between 2006 and 2010, which were assigned to expenses of functioning (31.264 billion pesos – 24%) and financing 383 projects in 18 Corporations at a cost of 108.737 billions (228 of them Sustainable Development projects and 155 Autonomous Regional ones) (MAVDT 2010c).

In Colombia environmental investment between 2006-2010 represented 12% of the resources allocated by the Nation´s General Budget (PGN) to the sector of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, now the sector of Environment and Sustainable Development (MAVDT 2010c). Total environmental investments for the period were 579.786 billion pesos, having risen from an investment of 76.512 billion in 2006 to 146.244 billion in 2010. In this sense, the effort to protect the environment is ever more strong, insofar as regional and local bodies work at it too, which implies diverse imbalances in their capacities of response, in a context of decentralization and autoIn the case of the municipalities, the main nomy but with strong budget restrictions on all levels of government and complex dynamics in the recons- resources which they administer that are destined for titution of territoriality and regional development in environmental spending come from the 3% surcharge on the gross earnings of hydroelectricity plants and the country (Galán and Canal 2002). 1.5% of the gross earnings of thermoelectricity plants. The budget allocated by the Nation to 1% of the municipalities´ current income goes on the research institutes affiliated and linked with the MADS purchase and improvement of properties to protect were 112.387 billion pesos between 2006 and 2010 micro-river basins which supply municipal aque(rising from 14.945 billion in 2006 to 29.248 billion ducts (Art. 111, Law 99/93, modified by Art. 210 of in 2010), which means that total investments in the Law 1450 of 2011). management of these Institutes in the quadrennial period were 246.453 billion pesos (MAVDT 2010c). With regard to the latter, Rudas (2010) In the case of the National Parks Unit (UAESPNN), reports that the investment by 447 municipalities and the total budget for the quadrennium represented 7 departments, for which information is available on a 50% increase, rising from 20.015 billion to 46.821 the implementation of the norm since it was estabillion, while the investment budget tripled during blished 15 years ago, has had an approximate value of the same period, rising from 9.425 billion to 30.278 159 billion pesos (at their current value), whereas if billion pesos (MAVDT). 3.9 trillion pesos were admi- these territorial entities had fully complied with their nistered by the Autonomous Regional Corporations legal obligation in this matter, the investments should between 2007 and 2010. 78% of these resources ($3.1 have been 1,27 trillion pesos. That is, these territorial trillion) were destined for investment programs, with entities only invested 0.12% of their total incomes, an emphasis on the prevention and control of envi- according to the available information, as opposed to ronmental degradation, strengthening of the SINA in the 1% laid down by the law (Rudas 2010). With regard the areas of environmental governability and environ- to transferences from the electricity sector, they rose mental planning for territorial management (MAVDT to 382.433,4 billion between 2005 and 2009, while the 2010c). earnings from charging the retributive tax and the tax on water use was 245.567,1 billion pesos and 60.851,8 Other sources of environmental finan- billion, respectively. cing are the National Royalties Fund (FNR) and the In Colombia one of the most important Environmental Compensation Fund (FCA). In the first case, the resources allocated to the environmental sources of resources to support the management of 54

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biodiversity conservation is international cooperation. In that regard, the Netherlands, Germany, the European Union (through NGOs), the United States (NGOs) and Finland (through the CAN) appear as the country´s most important collaborators in this field in recent years. As of April 2011, the country had 26 such environmental projects in operation, located in 24 departments, with a value of 54,647,526 U.S. dollars, corresponding to 7.36% of total cooperation (Acción Social 2011). Among the most outstanding expressions of this cooperation in recent years we find the Program for Sectorial Focus of the Embassy of the Netherlands, aimed at strengthening the SINA ( at a value of $43.2 billion pesos between 2007 and 2010) in such important areas as environmental planning for territorial management; the integrated management of water resources; knowledge, conservation and use of biodiversity; the promotion of competitive and sustainable processes, and the prevention and control of environmental degradation.

2007. It likewise speaks of the profound deficiencies of the agriculture/stock-rearing sector in establishing indicators that would allow it to determine the state of natural resources and agro-ecosystems. Nevertheless, this report singles out Corpoica´s advances in the development of projects which benefit biodiversity, among them 38 undertaken between 2007-2008, which include agro-forestry, slvopastoral ones, the integral management of soils and water, bio-physical processes, germplasm banks and the integrated management of pests (CGR 2008).

The perception that biodiversity is an obstacle to development, or a “luxury” which must only be considered when the country´s economic growth permits it, is still evident in persons and sectors in Colombia, instead of recognizing that, as the provider of ecosystemic services, it is the essential foundation of productive and extractive activities. In that sense, strategies for recognizing the importance of biodiversity and positioning it in the productive In addition, the Global Environment and consumer sectors of society continue to be mainly Fund (FMAM –GEF), which was created to grant based on ethical beliefs and/or personal convictions donations to developing countries for the realization instead of functional and strategic quantitative and of projects which benefit the global environment, qualitative arguments that would provide evidence for promote the establishment of sustainable means of life its contribution to the economic and social welfare in local communities and support the implementation of the country. of the CBD, UNCCD, UNFCCC conventions and the In the areas of sectorial planning and Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Polluterritorial ordering, although some advances have been tants (POPs) has, since 2002, co-financed a total of 29 made in the zoning of current land uses, the determiprojects in Colombia, with a total contribution of 100, nation of areas apt for a given productive activity and 245, 929 US dollars. The focal area most represented has been biodiversity, with 19 projects, which received the identification of the conflicts associated with use, a total contribution from the Fund of $77,339,029 the efforts are still meager and only limited to a few dollars, with national counterpart funds on the order sectors. For example, in 2002 the IGAC and Corpoica published a “Map of Conflicts on Land Use”, using as of $123,872,642 dollars. a criterion for analysis the “over- and sub-utilization ECONOMIC AND SECTORIAL POLICIES (PES) of soils” (IGAC and Corpoica 2002 a and b). These In the relationship between environ- conflicts, however, are defined under agrological mental policies and sectorial policies there has been a criteria, which partly regard the ecological dynamic “breach of practice” between activities for the progress as a planning criterion, which means that the “Map and development of the productive and extractive of the Ecosystems of Colombia” (IDEAM 2007) is not sectors, on the one hand, and activities for the conser- compatible with this effort. In addition, for the palmvation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, on growing sector, a map of areas apt for palm cultivation the other. In that sense, the annual report on the “State was made, using socio-environmental, productive of Natural Resources and the Environment” (2008) of and economic factors which facilitated the identithe General Comptroller´s Office (Contraloría General fication of areas of the country that are suitable for de la República) points to the reduction of and low the development of these productive activities (IAvH, budget for the agriculture/stock-rearing sector, which WWF, Fedepalma, Cenipalma, IGAC and IDEAM). fell from 0.691% (5.762 billion pesos) of environmental In the hydrocarbons sector, the IAvH has provided an spending in 2006 to 0.37% (5.241.7 billion pesos) in accompaniment for the ANH in the identification of 55

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conservation and zoning areas, based on criteria like the sensitivity and vulnerability of terrestrial and marine areas of interest for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons. These kinds of initiatives should be applied to other sectors and productive activities, since they are a valuable input for territorial planning and harmonize conservation and production in specific territories and thus guide the processes of sectorial planning and territorial ordering aimed at the maintenance of ecosystemic services.

influencing the processes of ordering the territory, so that impacts within the park are minimized and pressures on biodiversity found in the protected areas are reduced. This SSC strategy has allowed for the direct involvement in conservation activities in Colombian national parks of nearly 1400 families which belong to ethnic and peasant-farmer groups.

In the area of environmental licensing, between 2002 and 2011, 590 environmental licenses were granted to projects in the electricity, hydrocarbons, infrastructure, mining and special projects Related to above is the fact that efforts to sectors (ANLA 2012). The creation of the new National incorporate criteria and actions for the conservation Environment Licenses Agency (ANLA) as a special of biodiversity into the heart of productive systems, administrative unit shows the need to strengthen especially those which are known as “engines” of devethe technical capacity for supporting the licensing lopment (DNP 2011), are still meager and are limited processes and at the same time signifies a change in to the development of specific projects, generally led by the administrative procedures and management of the environmental sector or international cooperation. environmental permits and licenses due to its sharing In that regard, we still lack a real understanding of the of functions with the MADS13. problem associated with the loss and transformation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services that would In addition, with the aim of mitigating allow for the promotion of initiatives fitted to the diffe- the impacts and effects on biodiversity of the producrent sectors in order to reduce their vulnerability to a tive sectors, several management tools have been shortage of the key ecosystemic services which uphold developed, among which are found environmental their activities. Among the initiatives which have been impact studies (EIA) and more recently and with a successful, a mention might be made, for example, scope that is important for the country, the strategic of the projects co-financed with resources from the environmental evaluations (EAE). The EAEs have been Global Environment Fund (FMAM/GEF), which have promoted by the MADS, as a tool for sectorial planpromoted strategies for the environmental planning of ning aimed at the prevention of the risks and effects territories and include actions within private proper- of public and private policies, plans and programs ties, with the aim of conserving and sustainably using (Amaya and Bonilla 2007; MAVDT- TAU 2008). The biodiversity, taking into account the needs and interests EAEs are still not a juridical requirement. However, of the population and the potentials of the territory some of their principles have been applied since 1990 (IAvH 2006). Other experiences undertaken through and entities like the DNP and MADS, with the support the GEF directly involve the trade bodies of the produc- of the World Bank, have worked to develop them with tive sectors, as co-implementers of the project, as in strategic sectors (González and Palacios 2007). the case of Fedepalma, Fedecafé and Fedegan. The implementation of silvopastoral systems in which the As for environmental indemnifications latter has cooperated has shown its economic advan- for biodiversity loss, the MADS, along with the TNC, tages for cattle production: it has improved dairy and WWF and Conservation International have designed meat production and per hectare cattle load, and a scheme for the incorporation of environmental and reduced soil loss and the use of herbicides, among biodiversity factors into the cycle of decision-making other indicators (BM 2010). In all of these projects in the planning and development of sectorial megathe design and implementation of Landscape Mana- projects in Colombia, which includes a proposal gement Tools (HMP) stands out (Lozano-Zambrano). for mechanisms to assess and award environmental These tools enable regional productive systems to be 13 Processes like the ending of the protection of certain compatible with the conservation of biodiversity and parts of the areas of forest reserves established in Law its ecosystemic services. In the case of the Natural 2, the lifting of bans and permits for access to genetic National Parks, the encouragement given to Sustaiand CITES resources, continue to be the responsibility of the MADS nable Systems for Conservation (SSC) has led to its 56

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indemnifications associated with licensing activities included as an environmental determinant in the in the country and aimed at sectorial megaprojects. processes of territorial ordering by Decree 3600 of While pilot programs (in coal and gold mining, road 2007, at the current time the definition and implemeninfrastructure, hydrocarbons and ports) have been tation of a national ecological structure14 has not gone implemented, this new scheme is still very provisional beyond conceptual developments (van der Hammen and its effectiveness has still not been evaluated. and Andrade 2003; Márquez and Valenzuela 2008). Currently, there have been few exercises in this on a EFFECTIVENESS OF THE regional scale in the country and in every case they PLANNING TOOLS (EIP) follow different guidelines, in accordance with the In planning and territorial ordering, institution which identifies and implements it (IAvH Colombia bases its work on a conceptual and prac- 2008; Remolina 2010). tical differentiation between the territorial ordering The Capital Region (Bogotá-Cundina– OT (Law 388 of 1997) and the environmental ordering of territory – OAT – (Law 99 of 1993, Art. 5 and marca), for example, has achieved some interesting 7), which has made territorial management confusing advances in defining a regional ecological structure in that it gives the impression that the subjects asso- that would be the axis to integrate and guide the ciated with biodiversity should be ordered separately ordering of the municipalities it embraces. In Bogotá, from the process of ordering and defining land uses in the Main Ecological Structure of the Capital District a given municipality. Thus, the OAT is almost invisible (EED) was defined in Decree 190 of 2004 (Art. 17) on local scales and the guidelines which the central as “the system of areas and corridors which guarantee government has laid down for its realization by the the generation, protection and connectivity of ecoloregional environmental authorities are not sufficient. gical processes and environmental services throughout In this sense, it is very important that we rise above the urban and rural territory”. The EED, the structuthis division towards an integration of the concepts of ring axis of the Bogotá POT, is included in the area biodiversity (an environmental concern) and territo- of protective lands (Decree 462 of 2008) and is made rial ordering, so that territories are understood to be up of the System of Protected Areas of the Capital adaptive, resilient and complex socio-ecosystems, with District; the urban parks; the ecological corridors; the their own structure and functioning, which provide a Special Management Area of the River Bogotá; the number of ecosystemic services and put the culture or eastern ridges (cerros orientales) and the waters system. Following the example of Bogotá, other municipalicultures which develop there into context. ties near the Capital have defined and incorporated In the case of marine and coastal areas, their Ecological Structures into their ordering plans, the OAT drafted by the PNAOCI proposes the esta- as in the case of Sopó, Gachancipá, Cajicá, El Rosal, blishment of Integral Units of Planning and Territorial Fusagasugá, Facatativá and Cabrera (Remolina 2010). Environmental Ordering to guide the planning of the Additionally, Medellín is starting to define its main integral development of the coastal zone (Pacific coast, ecological structure as well. Caribbean and Caribbean islands) and, within these 12 Environmental Units, the establishment of some In recent years, as was mentioned above, of a coastal and others of an oceanic nature –UAC – advances have been made in taking biodiversity into which, taken as a whole, would cover oceanic areas account in the ordering and planning processes of and the National Coastal Zone. However, to date none some productive sectors. However, there are no studies of these UACs has a management plan. which evaluate the “trade offs” (page 41) between conservation and production in the maintenance of Additionally, the country is still not ecosystemic services in a manner that would enable clear about what the environmental determinants of ordering (Law 388/93, Art. 10) should be. As things 14 The Main Ecological Structure is defined as “the group of biotic and abiotic elements which support the essential currently stand, in some cases each of the CARs ecological processes of the territory, whose main aim and AAUs has chosen its own environmental guideis the preservation, conservation, restoration, use and lines of ordering as determinants, a situation which sustainable management of renewable natural resources worsens the confusion about their identification and which provide the capacity to support the socio-economic development of the populations” (Decree 3600 of 2002). implementation. Thus, for example and despite being 57

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us to guide the making of decisions about territorial intervention and transformation and ensure the resilience of socio-ecosystems (territories). In addition, while the country has made significant progress in consolidating its National System of Protected Areas (SINAP) (CONPES 3680 of 2010, Decree 2372 of 2010), the representation of ecosystems in and financial sustainability of the SINAP are still not guaranteed. In that respect, the country has established a portfolio of conservation priorities which identify nearly 40 million hectares as a priority, on the basis of 33 studies of conservation priorities undertaken on different scales which seek to determine strategic sites for the SINAP and have achieved an increasingly better representation of the ecosystems which characterize the country and make up its national natural patrimony. Moreover, the ordering and environmental zoning of Forest Reserves laid down in Law 2 of 1959 has advanced in six of them (Cocuy, Motilones, Magdalena, the Central zone and, in part, the Pacific and the Amazon). In the latter two, along with the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the process will have been finished in early 2012. Finally, through the processes for delimiting the páramos and wetlands and the demarcation of wetlands, the MADS seeks to define the precise borders of these strategic ecosystems and thus protect them from the ecosystemic transformation linked to productive and extractive activities. To date the work of mapping the country´s páramos has advanced to a scale of 1:100,000, with three windows of 1:25,000 (Santurbán, Pisba, Rabanal). In the case of the wetlands, work is being done on the regulation of Article 202 of Law 1450 of 2011, while the process of delimitation and demarcation is linked to the drafting of the respective POMCAs. All of these processes must be regarded as aspects which integrate and are fundamental to the process for the ecological structuring of territory which the MADS is currently carrying out, with the support of the research institutes of the SINA and the UAESPNN. In addition, the forestry ordering of the natural forests of Colombia (with a total of 61,246,659 hectares) has advanced in the formulation of Forestry Ordering Plans in the jurisdiction of 17 corporations which cover an area of 42, 178,019 hectares, of which 6,858,435 hectares have been adopted by means of administrative acts by the CARs. 58

FACTORS OF THE WORK ZONE These are the factors which play an important (key) part in the system, which is why they must be taken note of in any action. They have a strong influence and at the same time are strongly dependent, which gives them a great deal of instability. The decisions which are taken about these factors will have to be analyzed with great care in order to achieve the desired effects with regard to the GIBSE (Figure 12). VALUATION OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (VBD&SEDE) In general terms, the social and sectorial actors do not regard Colombian biodiversity as a public value. This has meant that they have not understood the co-responsibility which allows conservation actions to be undertaken by all the actors who, in a direct or indirect way, are associated with the management of biodiversity, and not just the environmental sector. This situation, in which each of the actors associated with biodiversity assumes the role which corresponds to him in the GIBSE, is intended to ensure the resilience of the socio-ecosystemic systems in maintaining and improving the supply of ecosystemic services while they use the different territories. In other words, to help the country significantly advance towards sustainable development. On the contrary, biodiversity is currently perceived as a public good, which easily leads Colombian biodiversity into the dilemma known as the “tragedy of the commons” (Hardin 1968), that is, when various actors or individuals, motivated only by personal interest and acting in an independent but rational manner, wind up destroying a shared and limited resource, even though the occurrence of such destruction does not suit any of them, whether as individuals or as a group (Hardin op. cit.). This situation has led to the worsening, in the country, of the different drivers of the transformation and loss of biodiversity, which has gone beyond the thresholds of many territories and heightened, for example, the problems of environmental deficits and social and sectorial vulnerability to the loss of ecosystemic services. Therefore, it is necessary that the management of biodiversity give priority to, among other actions, the social appropriation of biodiversity, through participation, co-responsibility and governance, so that the relations among actors are strengthened and there

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Figure 12. Results of the axial scheme analysis of the influence of the chosen factors on each other. The factors located in the Power zone are: Access to and quality of information and knowledge (ACIC), Management Capacity of the public institutions (CGIP), Availability and criteria for the allocation of financial resources (DCARF), Economic and sectorial policies (PES) and Effectiveness of the planning instruments (EIP). In the zone of work are found: Valuation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services for economic development (Vbd&seDE), Analysis and management of risk (AGR) and Participation in decision-making about biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PTDfbd&se). The Willingness and commitment of the actors factor (VCA) is found in the zone of autonomous problems. The factors of the Use and occupation of territory (UOT), Practices of the use and management of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PUMbd&se) and the State and conservation of Biodiversity are found in the Result zone. Finally, the factors of Intra- and inter-institutional linkage (AIII), Norms (Norm) and the Social Valuation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (VSbd&se) are found in the linkage zone.

is an optimization of the capacity of response, juridical security, social responsibility and the derivative and collateral benefits which result from its conservation, and thus effectively contribute to the objectives of reducing inequality and poverty (Kelly and Muers 2003). Closely related to the above is the need to valuate Colombian biodiversity by using the different available methods and mechanisms that will guarantee an integral valuation. In this respect, although economic valuation is the one with the most force in the country, it must used as a tool which, in combination with other ones, will enable it to begin to improve society´s perception, valuation and knowledge of the existence of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services per se as guarantees of human welfare. In this regard, Colombia has undertaken several pilot exercises in the economic valuation of biodiversity, although in

the great majority of cases their results have not been substantially employed in guiding decision-making about the conservation of biodiversity. In addition, the work of non-economic valuation is still very incipient and in fact, this type of approach is rarely taken into consideration in the planning of valuation exercises. As for advances in areas related to the valuation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services as a fundamental part of the development of the country´s productive activities, it is worth underlining the process of establishing a promising inter-sectorial dialogue, especially with the trade bodies in agriculture/stock-rearing and certain energy subsectors (electricity generation and transmission, and hydrocarbons). A good example of this are the Interministerial Agendas which have been signed since 1999 and are conceived of as working agreements 59

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between the MADS and other Ministries to promote an inter-institutional environmental management through mechanisms of coordination on a national level. These agendas have included subjects related to the management of biodiversity that are the responsibility of each sector and have been identified as priorities for inter-institutional coordination. In the framework of these agreements, the involved public and private entities have been developing joint and coordinated actions which have contributed to the continual improvement of environmental management in these sectors (MAVDT 2008).

also have a tax incentive created by Law 788 of 2002. Equally, there are exemptions on the sale of electricity generated on the basis of wind resources, biomass or agricultural wastes (Decree 2755 of 2003) and deductions for investments in the control and improvement of the environment (Decree 3172 of 2003).

Between 2002 and 2007 investments in environmental certificates by the MAVDT (now MADS) in the form of exclusions from VAT and tax deductions amounted to more than 151 billion pesos and promoted investments of nearly 480 billion pesos in environmental areas, the past three years being the In addition, in recent years, important most dynamic. Between 2005 and 2007, the value of economic stimuli for environmental investment by the incentives granted to 272 companies amounted to the private sector have been developed. Tax benefits investments of 307 billion pesos. Likewise, a growth are tools aimed at the protection of biodiversity, while in environmental investments motivated by tax beneat the same time they promote economic growth, fits rose, from 80.870 billion pesos in 2005 to 116.750 technological innovation and competitiveness. These billion in 2007 (MAVDT). benefits constitute an important variable in compaDespite the above, it is worth mentioning nies´ decisions, since they allow them to reduce that while the country has set into motion incentives to the initial cost of investment in cleaner production and the monitoring and control of contamination. support agriculture/stock-rearing and mining produThere have been important advances in consolida- cers, as a stimulus to investment in those sectors, it ting the legal framework for economic incentives in should be taken into account that their exclusive aim the country, by means of which it seeks to conserve is to increase productivity and expand planted or biodiversity and guarantee the provision of ecosys- exploited areas, without considering such aspects as temic services. Among these incentives is found the the conservation of biodiversity (heterogeneity, wealth, forestry incentive certificate (CIF) for reforestation endemisms, among others). In that regard, tools like 15 and conservation, which was created by Law 139 of the Incentive for Rural Capitalization (ICR) , for slow1994 and represents the State´s acknowledgment of yielding crops, may encourage both current producers external social and environmental factors that are and new investors to increase the areas of palm-oil positive for reforestation and the maintenance of plantations and thus replace vegetal covers as diffenatural forests. The reforestation CIF, which seeks to rent as the humid tropical forest and pastures (IAvH encourage investment in new protective-productive 2000). Other incentives harmful to the conservation plantations, has increased its budget in recent years, of biodiversity are related to the use of pest-killers and which has risen from 5 billion pesos in 2003 to 35 other agrochemicals in the agricultural/stock-rearing billion pesos in 2008 (MADR). Nevertheless, in the sector (PNUD-NCSA, 2010). A further problem is case of the conservation CIF, which recognizes the the lack of tools to, for example, discourage the use of direct and indirect costs a landowner will incur for mercury in gold mining or to promote the grouping the conservation of natural forests on his property, together of small miners who exploit subterranean or the measure has still not been implemented, despite alluvial deposits (IASvH 2000). having been regulated under Decree 900 of 1997. Among other developments in the field In addition, there are other tax exemptions on the of incentives in the country is the advance in the certiearnings from the exploitation of new forestry planfication of products under standards of quality. In tations and the renovation of plantations of timber that regard, Colombia has been advancing towards trees (Decree 2755 of 2003). more integral certifications, which take into account Other incentives developed in recent 15 The ICR writes off up to 40% of the loans granted by years are twenty-year tax exemptions on the earnings FINAGRO to agricultural/stock-rearing producers, from ecotourism services (Decree 2755 of 2003), which depending on the kind of producer. 60

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not only the product but also the social and environmental systems involved in its production. For example, the country has the Colombian Environmental Seal, the Single National Seal for Ecological Food (MADR 2007) and the Rainforest Alliance Certificate, among others. Nevertheless, despite the advances made, the IAvH points to some important gaps in this field, among them, that the opportunities created in different national, regional and international markets have not been sufficiently taken advantage of; production on too small a scale; deficient quality, the lack of business and management capacities; a shortage of information about markets and the high costs of certifying the sustainability of production. In the development of payment schemes for ecosystemic or environmental services (PSE or PSA), some of the cases developed under this scheme in the country do not meet all of the criteria which define this mechanism. For example, in the case of CIPAV, it is the project and not the beneficiaries who pay the supplier for the provided service, which threatens the sustainability of the tool over time. An opposite case, in the basin of the Río Cane-Iguaque, are the beneficiaries who pay the suppliers for the maintenance of the quality of water (Blanco et al. 2007). The long-term nature of these kinds of tools has allowed for the adjustment of aspects related to fairness and methods which facilitate an analysis of whether or not the services which are paid for are in fact supplied, as well as if the activity for which the incentive is given is the one which makes possible the supply of the service. It is very important that the spectrum of ecosystemic services considered for the PSE be widened, since the emphasis has mostly been on ecosystemic services related to water. ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF RISK (AGR) From the standpoint of risks, biodiversity has become a theat to the human communities of the country, because the single or combined action of the drivers of transformation and loss – environmental change (Table 7) – alter the intensity, magnitude and frequency of ecosystemic services and affect human well-being in such aspects as: an increase in mortality and morbidity; reduction of alimentary security; increased vulnerability to landslides, floods and droughts; a reduction of the sustainability of production and with it, impacts on the national economy and competitiveness; a reduction of the supply of

raw materials; an increase in conflicts over access to and the use of natural resources, among many other problems. In that regard, the institutional framework for the prevention and management of natural risks in Colombia should recognize the importance of incorporating the analysis of vulnerabilities related to environmental change at different scales (national, regional, local and trans-frontier), so that measures for the mitigation of and adaptation to the phenomena caused by this may be created. The management of risk may be a key factor in intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage and the mobilization of management within economic and sectorial policies to confront the risks associated with environmental change and thus reduce the social and sectorial vulnerability associated with the deterioration of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. In the current situation, the country falls short of this approach. The response which has been given to the loss of ecosystemic services seems slow, because, while the system recognizes the effect which risk management has on the linkage of economic and sectorial policies, the effect of the respective feedback has not been seen. This illustrates how the public and private sectors´ efforts at dealing with the risks associated with their activities are still incipient and the few efforts that have been made are only focused on some areas, like, for example, Climate Change and deforestation, and ignore the risks associated with the shortage of ecosystemic services caused by other engines of transformation and loss, like the fragmentation and degradation of ecosystems (especially non-forest ones); biological invasions; contamination and over-exploitation. Among the weaknesses seen in this field is that the processes responsible for biodiversity loss in Colombia are still not clearly recognized and as a result strategies for action are not set forth with more certainty. This limitation may be the result of the lack of technical capacity and information on the part of the environmental authorities, the weak functionality or complementarity of environmental and sectorial policies, the generalized lack of attention paid to the relationships between biodiversity and social groups or the poor understanding of critical ecosystemic processes. We may equally regard as insufficient the methods and capacities of those responsible for dealing with, regulating and overseeing these processes of the alteration and degradation of biodiversity and its 61

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ecosystemic services. For example, the biodiversity associated with marine and fluvial ecosystems has been gravely deteriorated by contamination, overexploitation and the construction of macro-projects. In addition, the country has no knowledge of the risks to native biodiversity associated with the introductionliberation of Modified Live Organisms (OVM). This aspect represents the current limit of the country´s environmental management capacity and is evident in the growing social and economic costs of natural disasters in the face of which it does not have integrated risk management strategies to avoid unwanted effects on the quality of life and welfare of the whole of Colombian society. Additionally, the integrated management of environmental risk (Wilches – Chaux 2006) is deficient in the country and shows a failure to tie risk management to Territorial Ordering Plans. By the same token, the subject of biodiversity conservation should be included in risk management policies and in the national implementation of the Hyogo Action Plan (SIGPAD) in a way that makes clear how biodiversity loss has an influence on increasing the vulnerability of territories and communities to natural disasters.

DRIVER 1. Changes in the use of territories (continental or aquatic), their occupation and fragmentation of their ecosystems According to Etter et al. (2008), the trend of the change in Colombian continental ecosystems from 1500 to 2000 shows that cattle-rearing has been the main driver of change in land use in Colombian territory and has been a driving force in the reduction of the area of the country´s native ecosystems, especially in its dry forests (mainly after 1900), Andean forests and humid tropical forests (with a moderate decline between 1800 and 1959 and a rapid one since 1950). Thus, other authors, like Villareal and Romero et. al (2008) report that the Caribbean and the Andes, including the inter-Andean valleys, show the highest levels of transformation (72% and between 59% and 67% of transformation, respectively). In the Caribbean, the most stunning case is that of the dry ecosystems (forests and other formations), since there only survive a few isolated remnants in the midst of an intensely transformed matrix. In the Andean region, the most affected ecosystems are the mist forests (humid Andean and high Andean forests). Additionally, the most recent and dramatic trends of this change show an alarming deforestation of the humid forests of the low jungle, especially in the Amazon and Pacific (Etter et al. 2008). In these cases, rivers continue to be the main access routes (Etter et al. 2006a; Armenteras et al. 2006). In addition, it has been found that this deforestation seems to be positively influenced by soil fertility and negatively influenced by accessibility (Etter et al. 2006b and c).

Thus, the country continues to register an alarming reduction and deterioration of ecosystemic services due to the loss of biodiversity and the transformation of ecosystems, which are replaced by production systems that are little sustainable and guided by criteria of efficiency aimed at meeting very short term human needs or simply to produce earnings. This failure to include fundamental considerations of biodiversity in the decisions of all the productive sectors and the development of infrastructure and macro-projects is a grave and still unrecognized threat, In academic studies, there is still no agreas a factor that affects the apparatus of production and ement about the state of the transformation of the the national economy. natural continental ecosystems of the country. Table 9 presents a summary of some of figures available for Finally, in the face of the increased conse- Colombia (Chaves and Santamaría 2006). quences of environmental change, the country must On a national level, the reported defoanalyze the possibility of creating, along with private enterprise, mechanisms and tools for the transference restation rates fluctuate between 600,000 hectares/ of the risk associated with the shortage of ecosystemic year (IGAC and ICA 1987) and the 91,932 ha/year services caused by the action of the drivers of the trans- reported by the IDEAM in 2002. Nevertheless, the formation and loss of biodiversity (Table 7). In this way, latest estimates of the country´s deforestation rates by the State will not be left with the sole responsibility the IDEAM (2011) show, for the periods 1990-2000, for assuming the costs associated with the resulting 2000-2005 and 2005-2010, 279,757 ha/year, 314,991 impacts. As follows, we present some evidences of the ha/year and 238,273 ha/year, respectively (Table 10). actions of the different drivers in the country: For the latter period the regions with the highest defo62

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Table 9. Degree of transformation of the country’s ecosystems and regions, according to different authors. Source: Chaves and Santamaría 2006. Scale National

Non-transformed (%)

Transformed (%) 31.3

IDEAM, et al. 2007

48

52

IGAC-Corpoica, 2002

47.8

Andes

Source

68.7

FAO 2001, 2005

---

39.1

Márquez 2000

65.7

34.3

Etter 1998

59

41

IDEAM 2000, 2001

-

59.2

Fandiño and van Wingaarden 2005

39.5

60.5

Rodríguez et al. 2004

33.2

66.8

Etter et al. 1999, Etter and van Wyngaarden 2000

Orinoco region

82.2

17.8

Romero et al. 2004

Caribbean

-

72.4

Fandiño and van Wyngaarden 2005

Pacific

-

21

Inter-Andean Valleys

-

78.9

restation rates were the Andes, with a rate of 87,090 ha/year and the Amazon, with 79,797/year (IDEAM 2011). The main causes in Colombia are the expansion of the agricultural/stock-rearing frontier (73% of deforestation), timber extraction (11.7%), the consumption of firewood (11%) and forest fires (2%) (DNP 2007), added to which are the construction of infrastructure works, illegal crops and the illegal felling of trees.

Unfortunately, efforts to follow-up the changes in non-forest ecosystems like wetlands, páramos and savannas are still scarce in the country. In that respect, McAlpine et al. (2009) estimate a conversion rate of 50,000 ha/year for tropical savannas, while Morales et al. (2007) estimate that 24% (463, 929 ha) of the country´s páramo areas have been transformed For the period 2000 – 2005, the changes by agricultural, stock-rearing and mining activities, in forests caused by deforestation show a strong degra- especially in some sectors of the Eastern and Central dation of forest ecosystems (a transition from forest to Cordilleras, which puts at risk the supply of ecosyssecondary vegetation in 521, 559 hectares, equivalent temic services from these ecosystems. Furthermore, to 38.2%), followed by deforestation for the purposes marine and coastal ecosystems have also been widely of establishing productive activities, pastures (495, 044 transformed.

Table 10. Reported rates of deforestation in Colombia at different periods and from different sources. The data are not directly comparable due to technical or methodological divergences in the estimates. Reported Period

Deforestation rate estimated for Colombia

Source

2005 – 2010

238,273 hectares/year

IDEAM 2011

2000 – 2005

314,991 ha/year

IDEAM 2011

1990 – 2000

279,757 ha/year

IDEAM 2011

1994 – 2001

101,303 ha/year

DNP 2007

2002

91,932 ha/year

IDEAM 2002

1970 – 2000

232,277 ha/year

Etter et al. 2008

1991

380,000 ha/year

WRI 1991

1987

600,000 ha/year

IGAC and ICA 1987

1981-1990

367,000 ha/year

FAO 1993

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In the case of mangrove forests, their total coverage in 2007 evidenced a general reduction of 12,191 ha, mainly in the Colombian Pacific (17, 390 ha lost), and an increased coverage of 5,199 hectares in the Caribbean (Invemar 2009). As of 2009, the areas rehabilitated after having been degraded rose to 33,601 hectares, while another 39,328 ha are areas for sustainable use. Some specific data show that the average rate of deforestation for Cauca and Nariño (1996-2006) is 3,000 ha/year (Invemar), while a recuperation of the area of mangrove swamps of the river Sinú was reported, rising from 8,861.7 ha in 2000 to 9,504 ha in 2009 (Invemar 2010). In general terms, the state of coral reefs is worrying, since both in the Caribbean and the Pacific the coverage of hard corals has fallen between 1997 and 2007, with the exception of Urabá, where a slight rise is reported, while the coverage of algae seems to be rising (Invemar 2009). The effect of diseases has generally been low in all the monitored years and areas, with historical fluctuations which do not indicate any special or clear change over time. Although the values are very low, the area of San Andrés has shown the greatest occurrence of diseases, while conserving the highest relative values with the passage of time and in comparison with other monitored areas. It is important to underline the occurrence of diseases in the Islas del Rosario in the past year, dominated by the White Plague coral disease (Invemar 2009). Other marine ecosystems like rocky shorelines, sea grass prairies and soft sea beds have also suffered transformations associated with human activities. In the case of rocky shorelines, the effect of activities like compaction, the extraction of sand and stones, building works in inter-tidal zones and the growth of urban development and tourism in areas of cliffs cause an increase in the erosion rate of shorelines, aggravated by biophysical erosion (Invemar 2009). The impact of human activities on rocky shorelines has been especially noticeable in Santa Marta, Cartagena (Tierra Bomba) and San Andrés, areas strongly affected by the presence of urban and tourist centers.

line of deforestation there remain mosaics of transformed lands made up not only of productive areas, but also fragments of mature forest and patches of secondary vegetation (Etter et al. 2006b). In Colombia this process has meant that the only representatives of many strategic ecosystems and endangered and endemic species survive almost exclusively immersed in cultural matrixes and private properties (Mendoza et al. 2007) and are not represented in any kind of category of protected area of the country (Franco et al. 2007). Analyses of fragmentation in the Eastern Cordillera show that the most fragmented ecosystems are the sub-Andean forests (302 patches) and dry Andean forests (135 patches), while the ecosystems with the fragments of largest size are the high-Andean forests and the páramos (Armenteras et al. 2007). The degradation of ecosystems is another important factor of change, related to processes for the use or transformation of natural or semi-natural ecosystems which do not cause their total change but modify their natural regimes of functioning. In some cases their consequences are transitory and amount to an indirect cause of the total transformation of the ecosystem. In Colombia it is estimated that nearly 16, 136, 983 hectares are degraded. Covers of crops, pastures and secondary vegetation represent the highest degree of disturbance (45.6%). Moreover, natural covers show a 12.2% rate of degradation, corresponding to 9, 615, 845 hectares. Among these, natural forests account for the greatest number of affected hectares: 6,498, 855 (MAVDT 2010d).

The processes of the degradation of ecosystems associated with fires show that between 2002 and 2008 the surface area affected by fires was 281,350 hectares, caused by 6650 outbreaks of fire. The Andean region is the one most affected by fires, especially the departments of Huila (1,256), Valle del Cauca (985), Cundinamarca (740) and Tolima (529). (IDEAM 2010a). The savannas and pastures appear as some of the kinds of covers most affected by these phenomena on a national level (57, 564 ha). For the same period between 2002 – 2008, the burnt area in national parks rose to 97, 390 ha (IDEAM 2010a). A Additionally, and linked with this trans- recent evaluation of the susceptibility of the nation´s formation, the fragmentation of ecosystems resulting territory to fires estimates that the areas with the lowest from human activities is another of the major impacts susceptibility are the largest, with a size of 668,938 km² on Colombian biodiversity, since it generates profound (58.99%), followed by those with a high susceptibility, changes in the structure of landscapes, especially at 210, 494 km² (18,44%). The categories of very high, continental and coastal ones. Thus, behind the front moderate and very low, with areas de 57,625 Km²,

64

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79,676 Km² and 75,582 km², respectively, are the cate- value like eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) and pines (Pinus gory of least size on a national level (IDEAM 2010a). spp.) Since 2007, when the responsibility for registering the management and exploitation of plantations of a productive nature was transferred to the Ministry DRIVER 2. Reduction, loss or of Agriculture and Rural Development, the CARs degradation of elements report that the species for which the largest number of native ecosystems of exploitation permits have been granted are acacia (Acacia sp.), sajo (Campnosperma sp., Campnosperma and agro-ecosystems. In Colombia the illegal felling of trees is panamensis), abarco (Cariniana pyriformis), otobo or estimated to be 42% of the total extracted (IDEAM cuángare indio (Dialyanthera sp.), lechero (Brosimum and Ecoforest 2008) and has become a serious problem utile) and Cuángare (Otoba gracilipes) (IDEAM 2010a). which endangers the populations of wild species of fine Many of the species have been placed in some endantimber like caoba (Swietenia macrophylla) and cedar gered category. (Cedrela odorata), which were widely exploited in the Thus, more than 50% of the Autonomous first half of the previous century and exported to the Regional Corporations identify illegal forest exploitaUnited States (Cárdenas and Salinas 2007). Nowadays tion as the activity which most affects their regional such species are exhausted and practically extinct: the protected areas (CGR 2008). In that regard, there are a former completely and the second in broad sectors of significant number of sawmills which live off remnants Colombian territory. Of 54 species of forestry value of timber from ever more distant and inaccessible use which have been evaluated in an analysis of the zones and logging is aimed at trees of smaller size risk of extinction, 34 are in some endangered category or “promising” species and thus prevents the gradual (Cárdenas and Salinas 2007), which is symptomatic of recuperation of forests. The total or partial elimination the way how these species are used. The state of conserof forests jeopardizes the subsistence of other subvation of some species, like the abarco (Cariniana systems and affects the inhabitants who have turned pyriformis), the almanegra (Magnolia plyhypsophylla), from timber extraction to the incipient development the abovementioned caoba, the comino (Aniba peruof agriculture/stock-rearing practices. tilis), the chanul (Humiriastrum procerus), the guayacán negro (Guaicum officinale) the palo de rosa (Aniba A subject which is often underestimated roseodoroa) and the yumbé (Caryodaphnosis cogolloi), as a factor in biodiversity use is the use of wood as a places them in the category of critically endangered dendro-energetic fuel (firewood or charcoal), for which (CR) species. The regions with the most endangered there is a strong demand in some of the country´s species of timber trees are the Magdalena (15 endan- municipalities for industries like bakeries, sawmills, gered species), followed by the Chocó-Darién and the brickyards and the production of sugar-cane blocks Western Cordillera (13 endangered species in each) (panela). According to the IDEAM (2010a), the producand also the dry and montane forests of the Eastern tion and consumption of firewood in Colombia fell Cordillera (each with 10 endangered species). Timber between 2000 and 2008, though it maintains a level exploitation in Colombia (2000 – 2006), measured on of around 21,000 kilotons/year. However, in some the basis of the exploitation permits granted by the areas of the country, its consumption may be higher, CARs, is on average 1,581,540.11 m3/year. Between for example in the municipality of Encino, Santander, 2000 and 2009 the North Andean region (Corpo- where it is reported that 79% of families there excluguavio, Corponor, CAS, Corpochivor, CDMB, Cornare, sively cook with firewood and there is an estimated Corpoboyacá and Corantioquia) granted the biggest average consumption of 6.2 t/ year and a per capita number of permits (11, 616), followed by the South one of 2.9 Kg/day (Aristazabal 2010). Andean region (CAR, Corpocaldas, Cortolima, Carder, CRQ and CAM) with 8,201 permits (IDEAM 2010a). Additionally, there are numerous activiThe areas with the largest demand for timber lie in ties in the country based on the extraction of products the jurisdictions of Corponariño; CRC; Cornare and derived from biodiversity in the form of fibers, mediCorpoboyaca, since their permits surpass 1´000,000 m3. cinal plants, fruits and ornamental plants. However, in Between 2000 and 2006 the biggest volume of exploita- these experiences the volumes of the harvest and the tion was of species introduced but with a commercial handling of the species have been based on market 65

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requirements instead of following ecological criteria (Ramos 2011; Becerra 2003). This has led to situations like, for example, the disappearance of many wild populations of several orchid species and even the extinction of some of them in the wild, due to extraction for the purpose of growing or export. Thus, at the current time it is estimated that 10.5% of the country´s orchids (some 3,500 species) show some level of risk of extinction, due to the destruction of forests and, in a direct way, their excessive extraction for commercial aims (Calderón 2007). Furthermore, wildlife fishing in the country shows an alarming situation. The state of the exploitation of aquatic marine and fresh-water species shows that of the 25 marine species (fishes, crustaceans and gastropods) which are most fished, 12 (corresponding to 48%) are in an over-exploited state (Barreto and Borda 2008). In the river Magdalena, catches have fallen, from 79,000 t/year in 1973 to 6,044 in 2006 (Mojica et al. 2002; INCODER-CCI 2006 and 2007) and species like the bagre rayado (Pseudoplatysoma fasciatum), bocachico (Prochilodus magdalenae), blanquillo (Sorubim cuspicaudus), doncella (Ageneiosus caucanus) and pataló (Ichthyoelephas longirostris) have been exploited practically to the point of disappearing (Mojica et al. 2002). In the Colombian Caribbean species from rocky shores like the Cittarium pica winkle (Osorno and Díaz 2006), spiny lobster (Panulirus spp.), squids, chitons and fishes like groupers, sea bass and snappers (Osorno and Agudelo 2007) are also endangered by over-exploitation. The use of fauna is also seen, in general, as a factor in biodiversity loss, especially in the absence of studies of the phenomenon. In recent times, there has been a boom in study of subsistence hunting by different rural human groups (Campos and Ulloa), whereas hunting for other ends, like commercial (legal and illegal) and scientific ones, has not been wholly evaluated. The illegal traffic in wild species is regarded as one of the main causes of the reduction of populations of natural organisms (Gómez-Cely 2009). As of 2009, the Regional Environmental Corporations reported the seizure of 211, 571 individuals subject to illegal trafficking in the country: reptiles, birds and mammals are the most affected biological groups (Table 11) (MAVDT 2011). In Colombia there is no consolidated inventory of genetic diversity that would allow for a 66

clear determination of the loss of its wild or cultivated species. The changes in the traditional practices and knowledge of ethnic and peasant-farmer groups, due to processes of acculturation and deculturation, have been favoring this loss.

DRIVER 3. The Introduction and transplanting of species Biological invasions have been recognized as the second global cause of the loss of biodiversity (Vitousek 1994, Vitousek et al. 1997; Everett 2000; Wilcove et al., 1998). In Colombia, intentional introductions associated with trade are predominant and 176 exotic species have been identified, of which 17 are on the list of the planet´s 100 most invasive species (MAVDT 2010a). According to Baptiste et al. (2010), 42 species with a high risk of invasion are reported in the country, which correspond to 36 genera and 19 families. The family with the largest number of species which present a High Risk of Invasion is the Poaceae (gramineae) with 19, with the Cynodon, Urochloa Guagua and Pennisetum genera standing out. Other important families are the Fabaceae, Hydrocharitaceae, Lemnaceae, Mimosaceae and Salviniaceae, all with two species each. In addition, most of the species which present a High Risk of Invasion correspond to grasses (31 species), followed by trees (5), bushes (4) and vines and palms, with one species (Baptiste et al. 2010). As for the risk of invasion from vertebrate species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians (introduced and transplanted native ones), a study of 73 species by Baptiste et al. (2010) classified 21 species in the category of high risk of invasion (mainly birds and mammals), 29 in the moderate risk category and four in the low risk one. Additionally, 137 species of fishes are reported in Colombia (82 introduced and 57 transplanted) from continental and salt waters. These belong to 9 orders and 29 families, of which the Cichlidae, Cyprinidae and Characidae familes show the highest number of species with 33, 24 and 18, respectively (Baptiste et al. 2010). 28 species of fish, 5 of crustaceans and 1 mollusk show a high risk of invasion. In Colombian marine waters, 26 introduced species have been identified; one (1) reptile, two (2) fishes, eight (8) decapods, one (1) crustacean, eight (8) bivalve mollusks, one (1) annelid, two (2) bryozoans, two (2) corals and one (1) algae. The large majority of species introduced

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Table 11. General figures on the illegal trafficking of wild fauna, reported by the CARs for the period 20052009. The data includes seizures of introduced exotic species. Source: MAVDT 2011 CLASS

MOST TRAFFICKED SPECIES

MOST TRAFFICKED FAMILIES

Number Sum total Sum total Sum total of of Hides of Meat of Eggs individuals (units) (Kg)

and transplanted to the country come from Asia, for ornamental purposes, aquaculture, consumption and restocking (Baptiste et al. 2010). Furthermore, the impact of invasive species on marine and coastal waters is being aggravated by the shedding of ballast waters by ships before they arrive at port. 86 non-native marine species have been reported in Colombia, corresponding to 44 taxa of phytoplankton, 16 of zooplankton, 2 of nekton and 24 of benthos (Ahrens et al. 2011). The absence of a strategy for the management and control of ballast waters (in ships and in port) has helped to spread this problem. To this is added the lack of trustworthy taxonomic information (many are juveniles of other

species) and the scarcity of qualified taxonomists. The latter two problems apply to studies of many other taxonomic groups of flora, fauna and microorganisms in the country. Furthermore, the commercial and experimental planting of transgenic crops, as well as the sale of transgenic products for human consumption, is more and more widespread. Nevertheless, very little is known about how the release of such plants affects native biodiversity. Notwithstanding the above, studies in other parts of the world warn about the possible negative effects on wild biodiversity, due to the processes of hybridization and introgression which cause genetic contamination and erosion, as 67

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well as impacts on herbivorous species, pathogens and other plants of vegetal communities (Pilson and Prendeville 2004). This is the case with the genetic flow, detected in both a theoretical and experimental manner, between transgenic and Creole varieties of maize in Mexico (CCA 2004).

Municipal discharges are one of the main sources of contamination in surface waters in Colombia (Pan American Health Organization – OPS and OMS 1993), responsible for nearly 65% of the total contaminating load of BOD (IDEAM, 2010b). Thus, in 2008 the total BOD load was estimated at 819, 235 tons/year, of which only 11% was removed by the treatment of waste Thus, in 2002, the country, through the waters, resulting in a daily average of discharges of 2026 ICA, authorized the release and planting of 2000 tons (IDEAM 2010b). 76% of this load is produced by hectares of BT (Bollgard) cotton in the Caribbean only 56 municipalities, among which are the country´s region. As of 2010, the number of hectares sown with big cities. Furthermore, the load of COD shed into transgenic cotton rose to 37, 657 ha (Agrobio). Up to bodies of water in 2008 was estimated at 1, 618, 200 2009, cotton had been the main genetically-modified tons (4,500 tons/day), with the domestic sector again crop planted in the country. In 2010, however, it was the one which produced most (58%), followed by the surpassed, in numbers of hectares, by maize (from 18, industrial sector (39%) (IDEAM 2010b). The load for 784 ha in 2009 to 38, 896 ha in 2010). The controlled suspended solids in 2008 was 1,114, 700 tons (3097 planting of transgenic maize was approved in 2007 tons/day) (IDEAM 2010b). and 2008, under ICA resolutions 2201 and 878, which authorized the use of the BT maize varieties YieldGard® According to the IDEAM (2004) the (MOM 810) + Roundup Ready® (NK 603), Herculex rivers Bogotá, Medellín, Chicamocha, alto Cauca, I (TC 1507) + Roundup Ready in the departments Lebrija and Chulo show the greatest deterioration of Córdoba, Sucre, Huila and Tolima. At the current in the quality of their waters, since the greatest time 6 varieties of cotton are commercially sown in social and economic activity is concentrated in the Caribbean, Upper Magdalena, Orinoco and Valle their basins. In the country the flow rate of waste del Cauca (Agrobio 2011). Additionally, between 2006 waters generated by the urban centers is 67m3/s, of and 2008, the ICA authorized the use of several types which Bogotá is responsible for more than 15.3%, of transgenic maize, rice and soy beans as the raw Antioquia 13%, Valle del Cauca 9.87% and the other material for the production of foods for consumption departments less than 5% (IDEAM 2004). The variaby domestic animals, under resolutions 3746, 3745, bles in the indexes which have the biggest influence 308, 309, 2367 and 2942, and it has given permission in harming water quality result from the meager for the importing of reproductive material and the availability of dissolved oxygen and the high total commercial sowing of roses and blue carnations in levels of suspended solids, coliforms, hydrocarbons Cundinamarca (Agrobio 2011; Arias 2007). and orthophosphates, variables which affect most departments(MAVDT 2009). There are currently 17 foodstuffs derived from genetically modified plants (GM) in The river basins most affected by the the country which have been approved for human excessive organic contamination caused by the addiconsumption by the Ministry of Social Protection tion of phosphorus and/or nitrogen to fresh waters (Agrobio 2011). are those of the rivers Magdalena, Cauca, Guarapas, Suaza, Páez, Neiva, Fortalecillas, Cabrera, Prado, Saldaña, Recio, Opia, Totaré, Gualí, Cimitarra, QuinaDRIVER 4. Contamination mayo, Palo, Amaime, Cerrito, Guabas, Guadalajara, and toxification Mediacanoa, Tuluá, Bugalagrande, La Miel and ChinAmong the sources of biodiversity it is chiná (MAVDT 2009). Thus, in 2008 the shed load of necessary to distinguish discharges by their source and nitrogen (N) reported was 117,000 tons and of phoskind, and the affected ecosystem. In general, they may phorus (P) 29, 400 tons (IDEAM 2010b). In addition, be put into the following categories: a) the discharge the organic material generated by industrial activities of particulate material, b) sonic and luminic conta- in 2008 was 639, 765 tons (1, 752 metric tons/day), mination, c) organic and inorganic discharges and d) which corresponds to 17.5 million inhabitants. The the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals, at times in an manufacture of paper, cardboard and paper products, foodstuffs and beverages, and chemical products indiscriminate form. 68

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and substances generated the largest loads (MAVDT 2009). This kind of contamination is now recognized to be one of the most important factors in the loss of ecosystemic services (Rockström et al. 2009), since it produces the eutrophication of fresh waters, reduces the oxygen in water and causes drastic changes in the form of acidity, bad odors, the uncontrolled growth of aquatic plants or toxicity due to the presence of toxic cyanophycean algae. The index of water quality which refers to the function of preserving flora and fauna (ICAMPFF) has declined between 2001 and 2008, with a clear seasonal pattern where low values predominate in rainy seasons, especially in estuarine waters (INVEMAR 2009). In 2001, the ICAMPFF showed that 26.7% of the monitored stations (51 stations) had a poor or inadequate rating, which indicates a risk of water contamination, mainly of the estuarine kind. Although the general trend of the ICAMPFF shows an environmental recuperation, there are sites which remained in inadequate conditions during the eight years of monitoring by the Network for the Vigilance of Marine Environmental Quality – REDCAM (2001 – 2008). Furthermore, chemical contamination not only affects fresh-water, marine and coastal systems, producing highly negative effects on the biodiversity of those systems, but it also affects the soil and air. Among the main causes of this kind of contamination a mention may be made of industrial wastes (like heavy metals or petroleum), discharges of human wastes from domestic activity, the shipping which spills several kinds of hydrocarbons and especially petroleum spills which cause serious ecological damages to socio-ecosystems.

(Vélez). As of 2008, it was estimated that the use of agrochemicals in the agricultural sector was nearly 2.6 million tons of solid substances and 20,695 liters of liquid formulations, especially NPK compounds (45%). (IDEAM 2010b). The impacts of coal and gold mining are seen in the increased sedimentation of bodies of water; emission of gases; particulate matter and noise; the generation of sterile wastes and rubble; and the contamination of the soil by heavy metals and other chemicals. In gold-mining activities, the processes of chlorination, cyanide lixiviation and mercury amalgamation, the pyrometallurgical process and the disposal of tailings generate toxic residues that have repercussions in the form of increased risks associated with the loss and transformation of biodiversity which these wastes may be causing. In 2008 the use of mercury was estimated to be around 178 tons (IDEAM 2010b). In addition, Silva et al. report that the levels of mercury in the water of a complex of wetlands in the Mompox Depression reached levels of 0.08 and 0.09 mg/L in the municipalities of Barranco de Loba, Hatillo and San Martín de Loba and in the marshes of El Sapo and Colombia, levels which are much higher than the admissible ones laid down in decree 1594 of 1984, which sets the limit of mercury in water at 0.002 mg/L. The same decree sets the admissible levels of mercury in sediments at 0.0001 mg/Kg, a value which is widely surpassed in some mining sectors of the lower Cauca, where levels of up to 0.25 mg/Kg are reported. In the same region high levels of mercury in fish which people widely consume is reported, with concentrations in their tissues oscillating in a range of 0.02 and 2.67 mg/g. The species in whose tissues mercury was found included the comelón (Hoplias malabaricus), doncella (Ageniusus pardalis), dorada (Brycon moorei), blanquillo (Sorubin cuspicaudus), mojarra (Caquetaia kraussi), viejito (Cyphocharax magdalenae) and bocachico (Prochilodus magdalenae) (Silva et al. 2010). The same study reports the presence of cyanide in the water of the Mompox Depression at levels higher than the admissible ones for the maintenance of flora and fauna (0.05 mg/L), with values rising to 0.12 mg/L in the El Sapo and Colombia marshes.

The use of pest-killers is an integral part of the process of producing crops like bananas, African Palm, grasses, rice, cotton, sugar cane, flowers and potatoes and they have mainly affected the basins of the rivers Magdalena and Cauca, as well as the Zapatosa and Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta marshes; the upper and middle basin of the river Meta, the basins of the rivers Saldaña and Coello, the lower and middle basin of the river Cesar, the wetlands of the cundiboyacense high plain and bodies of water in the Amazon (Benavides 2006). Thus, for example, in 1990 With regard to the potential soil contaimports of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides in mination caused by the extraction of hydrocarbons, the country amounted to 33.6 million dollars, while it in the areas where activities of petroleum exploiwas 80 million dollars in 1999, that is, a rise of 237% tation are currently being developed, nearly 1,819, 69

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999 hectares, there is a high probability that contaminated sites exist. However, there are currently no studies of soil contamination which consolidate and quantify the impacts on the country´s soils of productive agricultural/stock-rearing and extractive industrial activities. Thus, the management of contaminated sites runs into the difficulty that the direct impacts on soils of mining activities have still not been evaluated in the country. In that area the studies have focused on discharges into surface waters, since that means of spreading contaminants is regarded as one of high risk. The consequences for biodiversity of the country´s armed conflict have not been studied in detail. Nevertheless, the contamination it has caused is alarming. Between 1986 and 1991 guerrilla groups are reported to have blown up oil pipelines more than 1,000 times, which spilt nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil into natural ecosystems and although Ecopetrol cleaned nearly 2000 km of rivers and 1516 hectares of land affected by the spills, the effects on fauna and flora have been devastating (Bernal 2000). Furthermore, the impact on soils and water sources in the jungle areas of the country caused by the production of illicit drugs has still not been quantified, but it is evidently worrying.

DRIVER 5. Climate Change In Colombia the total volume of greenhouse effect gases for the period 2000 – 2004 was 180,008.18 Gg CO2eq. In the same period the share of the different modules in total emissions of such gases were (IDEAM 2010d): Energy (36.65%), Industrial Processes (5.10%), Agriculture (38.09%), land use and change in land use and sylviculture – USCUSS – (14.45%) and wastes treatment (5.71%). In accordance with that figure, in 2004 Colombia´s share of total world emissions (49 gigatons) was 0.37% (0.18 gigatons). A breakdown of the weight or representation of the contribution of each of the greenhouse effect gases shows that nearly 99% of Colombian emissions, in CO2 equivalent units, were made up of carbon dioxide (50%), ,methane (30%), nitrous oxide (19%), with the remaining 1% of greenhouse effect gases not listed in the Montreal Protocol (halocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride) (IDEAM 2010d).

Related to the above is that the evaluation of the part played in greenhouse gas emissions that result from the transformation of native ecosystems is still incipient. However, in the Colombian Orinoco, nearly 20 million hectares are grazed, of which between 7 to 15% are burnt each year, emitting nearly 14.5 tons of CO2/year (Rodriguez and Etter 2009). It Finally, it has been assumed that atmosis estimated that nearly 27 million heads of cattle are pheric contamination does not have a significant reared in Colombia, which emit methane equivalent effect on biodiversity due to its localized impact; to 55.2 million tons of CO2/year and thus contribute however, there are still no specific evaluations of the to greenhouse gas emissions (McAlpine et al. 2009; problem. This contamination is mainly produced in Rodriguez and Etter 2009). the industrialized areas of major cities, located in industrial corridors. It is estimated that a little more Nevertheless, the effects of climate change than 4 million tons/year of atmospheric contaminants are emitted in Colombia, of which 60% come from on Colombian biodiversity are still not widely known mobile sources (2,477,400 tons/year) and the remai- and many of the conclusions made today depend on ning 39.7% from fixed sources (1, 634,233 tons/year) indirect sources of information, cases in other regions (Chaves and Santamaría). Furthermore, the country´s of the planet and/or academic reasoning. In most cases, consumption of ozone-depleting substances (CFCs, the approach to the subject involves building models of HCFCs, Halons, Carbon Tetrachlorides, Methyl Chlo- future climate changes and of changes in the distriburoform and Methyl Bromide) shows a considerable tion of a number of species. So far there have been few increase, from 998 tons in 1999 to 2788.92 tons in studies of the potential impacts of climate change on patterns of distribution. For example, Urbina-Cardona 2009 (MAVDT 2010e). and Castro (2010) found that at least three species of With all this, the social costs mainly potentially invasive amphibians and reptiles whose related to air and water contamination, inadequate presence has been proven in 10 to 30% of the country´s clean-up and hygiene practices and the degradation territory may be benefited by climate change, due to of soils are estimated to be nearly 5.3 trillion pesos the broadening of their ecological niches, and may annually (around 2.8% of the GDP) (DNP 2007). come to occupy between 33% and 75% of the country. 70

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The models of the effects on the distribution of species show that the reduction of the potential area of distribution of species is the predominant pattern (Pedraza and Zea). The patterns of current and projected wealth are concentrated in the mountainous zones of Colombia, the Andean Cordilleras and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The variation in the distribution patterns of the potential wealth resulting from climate change suggests that by 2080 the zones with the highest species wealth might shift to higher altitudinal ranges with respect to current potential patterns (Pedraza and Zea 2010).

atmospheric changes, and presage their total disappearance by around 2050 (IDEAM 2010d). It is estimated that while Colombia had 108.5 km2 of glaciers in 1950, by 2006 this area had shrunk to only 76 km2 , with shortterm variations reported, like accelerated reductions during periods of El Niño and lower rates of loss or even small gains in periods of La Niña (IDEAM 2010d).

Desertification is a problem involving the deterioration of soils which is accentuated by climate change and mainly affects the dry zones of the country, which cover 21.5% of its territory. Currently, 78% of the dry zones show desertification, mainly resulting The evaluation of the vulnerability of from phenomena like erosion, salinization, compaction ecosystems to climatic threats shows that high-moun- and contamination. 42% of the zones with desertificatain ecosystems (high-Andean forests, páramos, glaciers tion processes are found in the Caribbean region, 32% and wetlands), dry zones and marine-coastal and island in the Orinoco region (the savannas of Meta, Arauca areas are the most vulnerable kinds of ecosystems in and Vichada), 24% in the Andean zone (inter-Andean the country (IDEAM). In that sense, the evaluation valleys of the rivers and Magdalena and Cauca, the of vulnerability for the period between 2011 and 2040 two departments of Santander and the high plains of shows that in mountain ecosystems the areas that will Cundinamarca/Boyacá and Nariño) and 1% in the potentially be most affected by climate change would Amazon. The gravity of the problem lies in the fact reach to nearly 70% of them (4,300,300 hectares), with that it fundamentally affects the main agricultural impacts on areas in Boyacá, Nariño, Tolima, Cauca and stock-rearing zones of the country and the soils and Cundinamarca (IDEAM 2010d). In addition, the with the highest supply of nutrients for a sustainable vulnerability of woody ecosystems will be higher in industrial agriculture. The scenarios of climate change the departments of Boyacá, Valle del Cauca, Bolívar, show a trend towards higher aridity in the dry zones, which would not only have a direct effect on species Magdalena and Antioquia. and ecosystems, but some of these changes may also In sea coast and island areas, a one meter enter into a synergy with modifications of the regimes rise in sea level would permanently flood nearly 4,900 of disturbance, such as the frequency or intensity of fires. km2 of low coasts and cause the flooding of 5,100 km2 of PARTICIPATION IN THE MAKING OF continental coastal areas. On the island of San Andrés, the situation may be critical, since, with a one-meter DECISIONS ABOUT BIODIVERSITY AND ITS rise in sea level, more than 10% of the island could ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (PTDFBD&SE) Valuation of the importance of biodibe flooded and 3.8% of the islands of Providence and Santa Catalina. These floods would affect a popu- versity in the economic development of some sectors lation on the order of 1.4 to 1.7 million inhabitants might seem to encourage a greater social valuation of it. However, this type of valuation seems to have little (IDEAM 2010d). influence on the management capacity of Colombian In the páramos the effects of climate environmental institutions, where interests are still change on biota, in the same conditions of rising tempe- concentrated on making a direct impact on the Result ratures, are rather alarming, because the change will Factors (Figure 12), which in itself only has a relatilead to the altitudinal modification of the conditions vely minor impact on the conservation of biodiversity responsible for the development of their biota, with a and its ecosystemic services in comparison to what it shift of between 140 and 800 meters that will unleash would mean to act in a parallel way on the underlying processes that acutely affect them. An annual loss of causes (Factors of power and work -- Figure 12) that approximately 3% to 5% in the area of glacier ecosys- lead those factors into a desirable state. Thus, this social tems is reported, with an average retreat of their lower valuation may positively go beyond that to strengthen edges of between 15 and 25 meters annually, values the actors´ willingness and commitment to attain a which show their strong dynamic and response to stronger and better participation in decision-making 71

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that may have a positive impact on the resource, since the higher the social valuation, the lower the degradation of the state and conservation of biodiversity, due to the fact that practices of use and management will take into account the need to maintain biodiversity and will be expressed in better planned and more sustainable patterns of use and occupation of territory.

However, there are unfortunate cases in which social participation seems to be more conditioned by the availability of economic resources than a fully coherent process. The existing resources are aimed at supporting specific exercises in a given planning or policy tool, to carry out an urgent task, without a conception of the true dimension of sustainability. This makes it evident that in certain cases the importance Furthermore, the scenarios of partici- of participation is not viewed with the aim of going pation which allow for strengthening dialogue and beyond that to a greater and better social awareness reflection, as a support for the management actions and acknowledgment of biodiversity. In these cases, which the State develops, are meager or do not fulfill participation is slanted towards opportunism and the the role of promoting appropriation and thus make it need to obtain short-term benefits. difficult to increase and improve the social valuation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. This situation FACTORS OF THE occurs despite the fact that some scenarios for partiRESULT ZONE cipation are well developed in Colombian legislation. The analysis of the system enables us to understand The related factors are the result of the that the Social Valuation Factors of Biodiveristy and functioning of the other factors that form part of the Its Ecosystemic Services are closely linked through system. They are highly dependent and little influential. participation, which, if it were strengthened, would They are factors that may be associated with objecreinforce the schemes of governance and in that way tives (Figure 12). come to generate and recognize biodiversity as a public value. In this sense, tools for participation in conser- THE USE AND OCCUPATION vation, like the prior consultation of ethnic minorities OF TERRITORY (UOT) Although there are norms which regulate when undertaking intervention in their territories, show that despite nearly 63 such processes up to 2007 territorial ordering in the country, the real situa(in the hydrocarbons, energy, infrastructure, mining tion shows a lack of planning and inter-sectorial and agrochemicals sectors), their application should linkage when it comes to transforming a given territory. be strengthened in order to support a truly effective The ordering plan is often subordinated to national measures which promote and provide incentives for participation (Londoño 2000, in Hernández 2007). a given productive activity without considering the Additionally, the process of consolidating municipal planning of land uses. Evidences of the the SINAP has allowed for advances in the legal and above are seen in the description of the drivers of the institutional framework and experiences which allow transformation and loss of biodiversity in the Analysis for the inclusion of different types of actors and forms and Management of Risk factor. of government in the system, as well as the creation of public awareness about the importance of conservation In the case of the agricultural/stockand protected areas for the sustainable development of rearing sector, the establishment of protective and the country. In the same sense, in 2005 the Ministry of protective-productive commercial forestry plantations Environment held an extensive consultation with the is an economic activity which shows a direct effect on traditional communities (Indigenous, Peasant-farmer, biodiversity, since it helps to increase diversity on the Afro-Colombian, Romani and Raizal ) on the needs of scale of landscape in the transformed area (Mendoza et their peoples in relation to the protection of traditional al. 2006) and may provide complementary and suppleknowledge (MAVDT 2005). The occasion served to mentary resources for fauna (Renjifo 1999, 2001; Durán bring advances in the establishment of the needs to and Kattán 2005; Medina et al. 2002). Nevertheless, on protect the traditional practices and knowledge asso- some occasions, depending on the objectives, the kind ciated with the conservation of biodiversity, as well as of ecosystem where the activity is established and the the construction of a proposal for guidelines for the species which are utilized, forestry plantations may design of a National Policy for the protection of bodies have negative effects, especially those related to the of traditional knowledge. invasion of species and loss of habitat. This situation 72

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is especially delicate when plantations are established in areas covered by natural forests, natural savannas, páramos and wetlands. Commercial reforestation in the country rose to approximately 296,072 hectares in 2010 (MADR 2010). The goal for the protective reforestation of the country between 2006 and 2010 was 120,000 hectares, 75.13% of which was met, that is, 90,155.4 hectares were reforested (SIGOB 2011). In another area, the relation between the systems of bovine stock-rearing and biological diversity has been generally regarded as negative due to the strong effects of this activity on natural ecosystems and the biological impoverishment seen in cattle-rearing landscapes. According to information of the IGAC and Corpoica (2002), 40 million hectares are devoted to this activity in the country, even though the areas of potential use for the same barely amount to 10 million hectares. Cattlerearing is a highly profitable economic activity due to high sales prices, on the one hand, and low input and manpower costs, on the other. The areas affected by illegal crops enter into the dynamics of cattle-rearing, since the establishment of pastures that cattle graze on is the final step in the processes of transformation which begin with coca (Erythroxylum coca) (Álvarez 2002; Álvarez and Price 2003). Among the main impacts of the activity of cattle-rearing on biodiversity there stand out the felling and burning of forests and savannas; the erosion and compaction of the soil; genetic uniformity when the mono-cultivation of grasses is favored; the elimination of vegetal succession by chemical (herbicides) or physical means; the drying up of wetlands; the construction of access roads; the growing demand for timber for fences, corrals and cattle trucks; the contamination of the water and soil by synthetic fertilizers and pest-killers, as well the emission of gases produced by enteric fermentation and the burning of fuels for the terrestrial and fluvial transport of live animals or their products (Murgueitio and Calle 1999).

marca, Norte de Santander and Santander, resulting in a 77% increase in this activity between 2000 and 2007. The number of applications for titles to gold deposits quintupled between 2003 and 2007 (CGR 2008). In the area of hydrocarbons, several situations have arisen in recent years which merit attention. As of February 2011, the total area assigned to petroleum activities in the country (exploration, in production, under technical evaluation and reserved areas) had risen to 66, 498,313 hectares (41% of the total area of the country´s sedimentary basins), of which 21, 476, 379 hectares are continental and 45, 021, 934 are marine (ANH 2011).

The processes of urbanization, “metropolization”, conurbation and the consolidation of urban regions produce dramatic changes in biodiversity that may be regarded as highly complex and beyond the specific effects of loss in a site with some conservation value. The central phenomenon in these cases is the ever greater concentration of the human population in urban settlements which brings with it an increase in direct local impacts due to changes in land use and an increase in wastes or contamination which affect both the different structural components of biodiversity and the ecosystemic services which guarantee the quality of life of those who live there. Data from the 2005 census show that 76% of the Colombian population lives in urban areas (cities and regional capitals), while 23.6% live in rural areas (DANE 2005). By way of example, the growth of the urban perimeter of Bogotá and its localities rose from 28,153 hectares in 1990 to 36,232 hectares in 1999, mainly due to population growth in the city, with the resulting change in the density of inhabitants and the square meters per inhabitant rate. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, Bogotá had 100,000 inhabitants and an average annual growth rate of 1.34%, which rapidly increased thereafter from The impact of mining on Colombian 6.6% between 1951 and 1964, so that its population landscapes is not a new phenomenon. In fact, between surpassed one million inhabitants. Between 1985 and 1600 and 1850 this activity dominated the Colombian 1996, the annual increase was 114, 219 people per year economy, in which agriculture and stock-rearing played and by 2010 the city´s population had risen to a little a relatively minor role (Etter et al. 2008). However, the more than 8 million inhabitants (approximately 166, impacts on biodiversity were limited to specific areas 000 inhabitants per year). The rate for 2010 may be an and relatively low. Just the opposite has been occurring underestimate, due to the high rate of rural migration in recent decades. Applications and grants for mining in the country (Pérez 1999). Population density in the titles involving such activities as the extraction of coal city has also risen significantly, from 132 inhabitants increased by 87% between 2004 and 2007, mostly in / hectare in 1938 to 210 in 1999, which amounts to the departments of Antioquia, Boyacá, Cesar, Cundina- 47.62 m2 per inhabitant (Pérez 1999). 73

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In the same manner, the development of the road and port infrastructure of Colombia has caused profound transformations due to the cutting up, deforestation and subsequent colonization of areas. In the Amazon, for example, distance from roads appears as an important variable in explaining the pattern of transformation and shows a positive correlation between the presence of roads and deforestation for the purposes of commercial and intensive agriculture and stock-rearing (Etter et al. 2006a). Thus, a large part of intensive productive activities are found in an area of 10 kilometers around roads, whereas the productive covers of land characteristic of recent colonization are more dispersed and lie in an area of 50 kilometers around roads. In the cases of the Amazon and Pacific Regions the pattern of transformation encountered (deforestation – fragmentation) follows the colonization and development associated with rivers and clearly differs from the “herringbone” pattern linked with the advance of the road infrastructure which is found in other Amazonian areas of Brazil and Ecuador (Armenteras et al. 2006; Etter et al. 2006a). Additionally, the enlargement of the national road network, which currently measures 141, 374 kilometers, foresees the construction of 1,478 kilometers of new roads, the improvement of 4,824 kilometers and the paving of 3, 457 kilometers. Likewise, the plan for port development foresees the building of the port of Aguadulce in the Pacific (with an environmental license since 2000) and the port of Contecar in the Caribbean and the possibility of three further ones (Puerto Nuevo, with a license since 2009; Tribugá, pending approval of the application for a license; and Turbo, still without an environmental license). For the enlargement of the current railway network, which currently measures 1169 kilometers, there are plans to build 328.13 kilometers of new lines and rehabilitate 125.5 kilometers of existing ones (DNP 2011). Despite legal and technical reforms aimed at mitigating the impacts of and repairing the harms caused by these activities, there are very few studies of the effects of infrastructure works on biodiversity, especially after the works are built (Santamaría et al. 2005).

nental aquatic systems is giving a new prominence to the problem of the transformations and eventual losses produced by the damming of rivers and the regulation of their courses and flood plains. This situation acquires a special relevance now that the development of hydroelectricity projects is being encouraged, since they are thought to have a positive environmental effect as a renewable energy source (in 2009, the effective hydroelectricity generating capacity of the country was 8,525 MW and total electricity generation, 13,495.81 MW , UPME 2009). Nevertheless, the alteration of hydrological regimes in Colombia has impacts on the life cycles of aquatic species, whose populations may go through dangerous fluctuations that jeopardize their survival and the maintenance of a stable supply of fish. The effects on Colombian biodiversity of the damming of the main arms of rivers are: a) the loss of populations of migratory species, b) the reduction of fish resources in important stretches of the rivers and c) negative effects on ecological systems located in lowlands and flood plains. The biggest concentration of dams in the country lies in the Magdalena-Cauca basin (22), covering an area of 40, 287.8 hectares (IDEAM 2010b). In the case of the Urrá dam, nearly half of the reported fish species are subjected to fishing and although some migratory species like the yalúa (Cyphocharax magdalenae) and barbul (Pimelodus clarias) have established themselves there, other migratory species, like the bocachico (Prochidolus magdalenae), dorada (Brycon sinuensis), bagre (Sorubium cuspicaudus), liseta (Leporinus muyscorum) and rubio (Salminus affinis) have not shown signs of reproducing themselves there due to the fragmentation of their populations. In the same manner, an analysis of the relative biomass in the dam between 2001 and 2005 shows a homogenization of the values in each layer and a significant reduction in the populations of mojarra amarilla (Caquetaia kraussii), cacucho (Panaque gibbosus), dorada, liseta and agujeta (Ctenolucius hujeta). In the composition of species, the appearance of dams seems to benefit the establishment of omnivorous species with a preference for insects and detritivorous and phytivorous ones, as has been seen in Urrá, Betania and El Prado (Valderrama et al. 2006; INCODER 2005).

Furthermore, Colombia currently has 33 dams which cover 56, 042 hectares, equivalent to Finally, a way to evaluate the impact 6% of the lentic bodies of the country, with a volume 3 of water storage higher than 9831 Mm (IDEAM). which human activities, especially those related to However, the long-delayed but now growing interest economic development, have on biodiversity, is to in the biodiversity and ecosystemic services of conti- calculate the ecological footprint. In 2010 the Global 74

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Footprint Network estimated Colombia´s ecological footprint of consumption to be 85 million global hectares or 1.9 hectares per inhabitant. National biocapacity was calculated at 176 million global hectares or 3.86 hectares per capita. In comparison, the world ecological footprint for consumption is 17.1 trillion global hectares or 2.6 hectares per inhabitant, while world bio-capacity is estimated at 11.9 trillion global hectares or 1.8 hectares per capita.

In the case of the agricultural/stockrearing sector, the increase of sustainable production systems seen in the past few years has been the result of recognizing the non-sustainability with which these productive activities were carried out for many years. As a response to these signs, criteria for the agro-ecology of the country´s productive systems are being established and adopted. Their application has been characterized by an ever greater complexity, moving from the level or scale of components to the PRACTICES OF THE USE AND scale of the farm, the sector and the region (Corrales MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS 2002). Thus the MADR has begun to work in the ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (PUMBD&SE) promotion and strengthening of this activity, based In general terms, socio-environmental on the criteria of the non-use of chemical fertilizers, conflicts in Colombia are not clearly identified, herbicides or pesticides or other toxic substances that acknowledged and managed in a way that would have an impact on human health and the environment, promote the social valuation of biodiversity. Unfortuna- as well as the concept of sustainable production and tely, the word “conflict” in Colombia is still associated, competitiveness (MADR 2007). almost exclusively, with scenarios of armed violence. In the forestry sector, initiatives have been However, socio-environmental conflicts refer to any developed to undertake processes for the sustainable tension, disagreement, confrontation and/or clash management of the forest resource, through the traiarising from the opposition between actors who pursue ning of technical personnel and beneficiaries, support different objectives with regard to the access to, use, for the organization of users, the development and management and protection of biodiversity and its application of the sustainable exploitation and manaecosystemic services (page 19). gement of forests and linking regional management of the forestry sector with the PNDF. Thus, regional forest Although the idea of promoting the sustai- plans have been promoted, along with the development nable use of biodiversity as a strategy for conservation of technical and juridical tools for forest management, has been central to the aims of the CBD, this subject the interchange of experiences and the encouragedoes not seem to have entered into the country´s mana- ment of a dialogue between the actors linked to the gement of biodiversity in an effective manner. Given forestry sector. However, it is very important that these the regulatory functions of the MADS, it is evident processes continue to be promoted, so that they extend that the management of use seems to be in the hands to more areas of the country, especially those where of the productive sectors, with whom there has been the illegal felling and non-sustainable management of an intermittent flow of dialogue. Notwithstanding the forests threatens the supply of ecosystemic services. above, the fact that some of the sectorial actors have begun to recognize the role of biodiversity in increasing In the case of fishing and hydro-biological productivity and competitiveness makes it possible to resources it is necessary to implement drastic measures identify advances in the incorporation of criteria for of planning which will permit us to sustain species over the management of biodiversity into some systems time and space (Barreto and Borda 2008). The MADS of extraction and production. The MADS has been underlines that there is no action line for hydro-bioloworking out different strategies to promote sustaina- gical resources, nor a base of clear information on these bility and incorporate the environmental variable into resources. On a local level, the IAvH and the UAESPNN the planning and management of the productive and have been carrying a project with ornamental fishes in services sectors, including the institutions responsible Puerto Inírida, since their commercialization is one for decision-making in this area. Under these premises, of the main sources of income for the communities of the main strategies which have been promoted are: i) that region (Castellanos et al. 2008. The same applies to Inter-ministerial agendas, ii) the incorporation of the the Omacha Foundation within the framework of the environmental dimension into sectorial policies and Pijiwi Orinoko project undertaken in the El Tuparro World Biosphere Reserve, where work is being done iii) cleaner production. 75

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on a value chain for ornamental fish through improved practices of extraction, storage and transport; business development and social organization; strategic alliances and the opening of new markets. The UAESNPNN has established different agreement on ecotourism with national and international institutions, with the aim of strengthening, promoting and encouraging the financial sustainability of ecotourism (international and with a community emphasis) in the different protected areas of the SINAP (Source: Virtual Bulletin on Parks -- Boletín virtual de Parques – No. 14, November 24, 2008). Few advances have been seen in other systems of the use, extraction and sustainable exploitation of fauna and flora in ecosystems and agroecosystems, despite initiatives towards this end through a dialogue with communities about bioprospecting or building a bridge between scientific knowledge and their traditional knowledge. There have been advances in characterizing subsistence hunting activities, mainly with indigenous communities and on some occasions with peasant-farmer ones, in which biological, ecological and socio-cultural data are obtained on the techniques which are employed and the uses given the hunted fauna. Despite that, this information has not been incorporated in those studies in a manner that would allow one to determine the sustainability of such activities with the required precision (Chaves and Santamaría 2006). With regard to the legal commerce of species, CITES permits are one of the main tools for regulating the import and export of species which are endangered by this business. Although the country issued 2,168 CITES permits for import, export and re-export in 2011, out of a total of 2,259 applications (MADS 2012a), the need to institutionally strengthen these procedures is evident. Colombia has shown important advances in aspects of the breeding of wild animals, especially in a closed cycle, while at the same time it is in the process of adjusting Resolution 1367 of 2000, which regulates the processes of importing and exporting other species not included in the CITES appendices, in order to optimize the permitapplication procedures and include aspects hitherto not considered. In addition, Colombia is one of the pioneers, on a world level, in adopting the principles of international trade with regard to establishing a line 76

of Sustainable Bio-Commerce 16. The support given to this activity by the IAvH allowed for the promotion of value chains in natural ingredients for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, natural ingredients for the foodstuffs industry, tropical flowers and foliage, Amazonian fruits, craftwork and ecotourism (IAvH 2008). Since then, with the creation of the Bio-Commerce Fund and the Bio-Commerce Monitoring agency (Observatorio de Biocomercio -Obio), the country has been able to advance even further in the granting of credits, factoring and risk capital to companies devoted to bio-commerce in the country (Taken from: www. fondobiocomercio.com). Recently, with the adoption of the National Policy for Competitiveness and Productivity (CONPES 3527 of 2008), bio-commerce has been recognized as an aspect of competitiveness, facilitating the setting into motion of the National Bio-Commerce Program, whose general aim is to promote the development of innovative and competitive businesses in the field of bio-commerce which contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, its ecosystemic services and the welfare of Colombian society within the framework of the GIBSE (MADS 2012b). The approbation of Conpes document 3533 (2008) “Foundations of an action plan for the adjustment of the intellectual property system to national competitiveness and productivity: 2008-2010” opens the possibility of establishing the foundations in the country for a policy which regulates aspects of intellectual property and facilitates the production of patentable knowledge, the protection of intellectual property rights and a recognition of the opportunities provided by biodiversity for the development and application of knowledge (Colombian Ministry of Foreign Relations et al. 2008). Finally, and though the subject embraced and linked different aspects of the PNB (1996), Colombia still lacks clear tools and mechanisms to promote a fair and equitable distribution of the benefits deriving from the use of biological diversity, especially its genetic resources. However, the country has 16 Sustainable bio-commerce refers to the set of activities of gathering and/or production, processing and commercialization of the goods and services derived from native biodiversity, under criteria of environmental, social and economic sustainability. The term was adopted at the 6th Conference of the Parties to the CBD in 1996 and its definition was accepted by the National Biocommerce Programs, the CAN, the UNCTAD and the CAF in 2004.

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advanced in the development of a Technical Proposal for a Policy for the Access to and Sustainable Exploitation of Genetic Resources and Derived Products in Colombia (produced by the Humboldt Institute in 2004) and the integration of the problems of the use and exploitation of their natural base into the institutional analysis of this subject in order to strengthen the design of policy instruments and economic incentives (IAvH 2008).

reduction of greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation, degradation and LULUCF; the reduction of the processes of desertification; and the protection of genetic variability. Additionally, many of the actions which are currently carried out in Colombia to protect biodiversity, such as the control of the illegal trafficking of species, the fight against biological invasions and bio-security protocols are also opportunities to contribute to the fulfillment of global goals to reduce the loss and deterioration of biodiversity which have been laid down in the new action plan for 2011-2011 of the CBD and the Aichi targets.

THE STATE AND CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (ECBD&SE) FACTORS OF THE The state of the conservation of national biodiversity has historically been threatened by the LINKAGE ZONE action of the drivers of the transformation and loss These are factors which turn into the of biodiversity (Table 7). A review of their effects is “stopcock and control valve” for connecting the factors presented in the description of the Analysis and Manafound in the zone of work. The evolution of these factors gement of Risk Factor (page 63). must be regulated, to a greater or lesser extent, to aid Additionally, native agro-biodiversity the fulfillment of the system´s objective (Figure 12). receives little recognition as a part of national biodiversity. In that regard, the conservation of cultivars, INTRA- AND INTER-INSTITUTIONAL autochthonous races and wild relatives of domesti- AND INTERSECTORIAL LINKAGE (AIII) On the basis of the analysis of the conflicts cated species is mainly undertaken through germplasm banks. Nevertheless, actions for the in situ conservation among the actors associated with the management of of agro-biodiversity and associated traditional practices biodiversity (page 19), evident, among other conflicts, are limited to local programs, in specific communi- is the failure to coordinate actions not only within but ties, rather than being a clear policy led by the central also among the institutions both of the environmental government. It is important that these initiatives be sector and the different sectorial ones. In some cases promoted, especially because of their value as a stra- this situation leads to the duplication of efforts (at times using different methodologies, which greatly complitegy for adaptation to climate change. cates the unification and harmonization of information), Finally, it is necessary to recognize and the realization of processes without counting on the explicitly communicate to all levels of society that the participation of institutions or entities which work in country´s megadiversity enables it to sustain ecosys- the same fields, or contradictory norms or tools which temic processes on continental and global scales. The the sector which promotes them may regard as positive role of the Amazon region and the Chocó bio-geogra- but are negative by virtue of the potential environmental phic region as photosynthesizing “machines” for the impacts caused by their implementation world (which produce oxygen and act as carbon stores and sinks) and as regulators of the region´s In addition, this lack of linkage is also climate; the supply of waters by the páramos to the seen in the management and implementation of interbasins of the rivers Amazon and Orinoco; the coastal national environmental agreements and conventions ecosystems´ role in the spawning and reproduction directly or indirectly related to biodiversity and its of a large number of species which are important ecosystemic services (for example, the Hyogo Protocol, to fishing in the Caribbean and the Pacific, among FAO Convention, UPOV Convention, and WIPO many other ecosystemic services of global importance, WTO and ITTO agreements, among many others). are examples of how activities for the management Discussions, activities of implementation and reports of the conservation of national mega-diversity will are handled in an independent manner and rarely are contribute to the achievement of world objectives in activities undertaken which produce strategies for dealing with climate change through actions like the preparing negotiations for other, related conventions, 77

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in order to give coherence to the country´s positions (for example, the CBD, UNFCC, UNCCD, UNFF). Clearly, strengthening the internal articulation of the implementation of all these international commitments will help to identify and guide the areas where international cooperation (financial and technical) may be taken better advantage of and thus effectively help to achieve the objectives of conserving biodiversity and its ecosystemic services.

level. For that reason, the strategies which are beginning to be implemented on an international level to position Colombia as a State where biodiversity has a strategic role must be strengthened by national actions which promote and secure the maintenance of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services.

NORMS (NORM) The regulatory framework acts as a Factor of Linkage with other factors in the zones of power, work and result (Figure 12). In our country, the tendency has been to regard it as the reason for being of public management and intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage. In other words, the functioning of the country´s public institutions is linked in order to produce norms or because there is a norm which requires such linkage and thus the management capacity of the State is undervalued. Unfortunately, despite institutional efforts, the regulatory framework, as the maximum management strategy, does not lead the social and sectorial actors to appropriate or sufficiently value their responsibility for and commitment to the maintenance of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, added to which is the fact that the application of much of the current regulatory framework is not effective. Additionally, the current regulatory framework does not have a strong influence on the formulation and implementation of economic and sectorial policies, which means that the environmental dimension is not taken into account as rigorously as it should be.

The Willingness and Commitment of the Actors factor (VCA) lies in the autonomous problems zone. It is a factor of little significance within the system and acts in an isolated manner. Not many efforts should be focused on it, due to its weak influence and dependence. The analysis of this factor shows that it depends on the intrinsic characteristics (characteristic traits) of the actors who participate in the management of biodiversity, not the GIBSE system made up of the other factors which have been identified (Figure 12).

THE SOCIAL VALUATION OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (VSBD&SE) As was mentioned above, biodiversity and its ecosystemic services in Colombia suffer from the “tragedy of the commons” (Hardin 1968). This ignorance of its importance for the maintenance of human well-being encourages the idea that biodiversity is something that is not necessary and thus its social valuation is low, being limited to ethical aspects and/ or personal convictions which are not often decisive factors in the decisions revolving around the country´s economic growth.

FACTORS IN THE ZONE OF AUTONOMOUS PROBLEMS

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE IDENTIFIED FACTORS AND THE GIBSE On the basis of the above diagnosis, there is a clear need to go beyond current arrangements towards a model of management which integrates all the actors in society and is based on the inclusion of different systems of knowledge, participation and social and sectorial co-responsibility, in order to strengthen the adaptive capacity of institutions to facilitate and promote the strengthening of the governance of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services so that they may be recognized and accepted as public values. Thus, the conservation of biodiversity may come to be understood and managed as the foundation of the country´s territorial ordering, so that the resilience of its socio-ecological systems is maintained and the supply of ecosystemic services fundamental for human well-being is secured and at the same time socio-ecosystemic vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change is reduced.

In that way, the needs which have been identified with regard to undertaking an integral management of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services At the present time, the country has not (GIBSE) are contextualized through the diagnostic significantly advanced in the recognition and streng- elements which the development of the key factors thening of biodiversity as a public value on a national identified provide (Table 11).

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Table 11. Description of the general needs involved in undertaking the integral management of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (GIBSE) and the factors which contribute diagnostic elements to its strategic contextualization. REQUIREMENT FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE GIBSE

KEY FACTORS WHICH SUPPLY DIAGNOSTIC ELEMENTS

Need to undertake actions for in situ and ex situ conservation, both in wild areas17 (protected or not) and transformed continental, marine, coastal and island landscapes, so that viable populations of flora and fauna and the resilience of socio-ecological systems are maintained and the supply of ecosystemic services on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales is upheld.

Economic and sectorial policies (PES) Effectiveness of planning instruments (EIP) Availability and allocation of financial resources (DCARF) Use and occupation of territory (UOT) Practices of use and management of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PUMbd&se) State and conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (ECbd&se). Management capacity of public institutions (CGIP) Availability of and criteria for the allocation of financial resources (DCARF) Social valuation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (VSbd&se) Regulatory framework (Norm) Intra- and inter- institutional and inter-sectorial coordination (AIII) Participation in the making of decisions about biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (VSbd&se) Willingness and commitment of the actors (VCA) Economic and Sectorial Policies (PES) Effectiveness of planning tools (EIP) Availability of and criteria for the allocation of financial resources (DCARF) Intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage (Alll) Regulatory framework (Norm) Valuation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services for economic development (Vbd&seDE) Use and occupation of territory (UOT) Practices of the use and management of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PUMbd&se) State and conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. (ECbd&se) Access to and quality of information and knowledge (ACIC) Availability of and criteria for the allocation of financial resources (DCARF) Intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage (Alll) Regulatory framework (Norm

Need to strengthen the relationship between the State and citizens (urban and rural) to integrally manage biodiversity and its ecosystemic services on the basis of participation in and co-responsibility for conservation actions, so that the maintenance of biodiversity in explicit socioecosystemic contexts may be socially assumed and perceived as an irreplaceable benefit which maintains and improves the quality of life on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales. Need to incorporate biodiversity and the supply of ecocystemic services into planning and the making of sectorial decisions so that it creates co-responsibility in undertaking actions of conservation and integral valuation (economic and non-economic) and thus helps to maintain the sustainability of actions of production, extraction, settlement and consumption and the improvement of the quality of life on national, regional, local and trans-frontier levels.

Need to promote, strengthen and coordinate the generation, recuperation, linkage and dissemination of information, knowledge and technological developments deriving from different systems of knowledge which facilitate the nourishment and orientation of the Integral Management of Biodiversity and Its Ecosystemic Services at national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales. Need to undertake actions to confront the threats related to environmental change (loss and transformation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services + variability and climate change) in order to maintain socio-ecosystemic resilience and reduce its vulnerability, in line with the ecosystem-based approach18 to mitigation and adaptation, so that the quality of life on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales is not jeopardized. Need to undertake actions to strengthen the country´s international position as a megadiverse one which supplies ecosystemic services of global importance and at the same time undertakes national actions to help in the world fight against the climatic-ecological challenges (environmental change) which threaten the stability of the planet.

Analysis and management of risk (AGR) Availability of and criteria for the assignation of financial resources (DCARF) Social valuation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (VSbd&se) Use and occupation of territory (UOT) Practices of use and management of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PUMbd&se) State and conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (ECbd&se) Valuation of Biodiversity and its ecoystemic services for economic development (Vbd&seDE) Use and occupation of territory (UOT) Practices of use and management of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (PUMbd&se) State and conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services (ECbd&se)

17 Wild areas refer to the areas of the country which have been little transformed by human activities and where the ecological dynamic predominates in the definition of its structure, function and change. These areas may be in some protected category (protected areas or areas that may be included in the Portfolio of Conservation Areas) or they may not. 18 The ecosystem-based approach to mitigation and adaptation is comprised of proven, complementary, sustainable and cost-effective solutions based on the maintenance of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services in order to complement national and regional measures for mitigation and adaptation based on technology (World Bank 2009; Andrade 2010), thus reducing societies´ vulnerability to environmental change. The adaptation to and mitigation of environmental change are measures which may be complementary, interchangeable or independent. However, as replacements they are never perfect, since mitigation is always necessary to avoid dangerous and irreversible changes in the climatic system (IPCC 2007).

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STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES a. The vital priority of biodiversity: Life is the supreme value. The survival of life and the planet depend on the protection of the tangible and intangible components of biodiversity and the understanding of its dynamic character. b. The well-being of the population and the improvement of its quality of life: The quality of life of the population is reciprocally and indissolubly related to the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. c. Biodiversity is the source, foundation and guarantee of the supply of ecosystemic services, indispensable for the sustainable development of the country, its adaptation to global environmental changes and the wellbeing of Colombian society. d. The principle of the integral and complementary nature of biodiversity: Biodiversity must be understood from an integral standpoint, which means incuding internal and external aspects of institutions and individuals. e. Co-responsibility: The management of biodiversity is a shared but differentiated responsibility of all the members of society. The distribution of the risks and benefits deriving from environmental management must be democratic, just and equitable. f. The precautionary principle: When management faces situations of uncertainty, the precautionary principle should be followed. g. The recognition of and respect for cultural differences: Biological diversity is closely linked with ethnic and cultural diversity. The recognition of these and respect for cultural differences are fundamental in the design

h.

i.

j.

k.

l.

m.

of local strategies of conservation and must be linked with policies for the development and ordering of territory in order to guarantee its sustainable use. Sustainability: Living systems have a dynamic character and are in permanent transformation, while they also require the preservation of the natural base which upholds them and the rational use of their components to ensure the viability of human life and its endurance over time. Adaptation to change: The management of biodiversity must take advantage of the margins of variability of the system so that management capacity and the use of resources will be permanently adjustable and based on a continuous study of its dynamic. The territorial dimension: The socio-ecosystemic dimension finds its expression throughout the cycles which are developed in concrete territorial scenarios, thus, its management must de done in harmony with territorial ordering policies. Decentralization: The ecosystemic approach requires a management of biodiversity on national, regional, local scales and trans-frontier scenarios, which implies adequate levels of decentralization and social participation in its management. Competitiveness: Biodiversity is the foundation of the natural and economic wealth of the country and is one of its main comparative advantages over other nations of the world. The inter-sectorial character of management: The efficient management of the components of biodiversity requires the agreement of all the sectors and public and private actors who live off the economic, social and cultural activities associated with its use and protection. 81

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n. Fairness: As biodiversity is a national patrimony and a source of ecosystemic services and benefits for society in general, and all Colombian citizens have the same constitutional rights, the integral management of biodiversity must be based on securing an equitable social balance among the different sectors, actors and individuals who inhabit this territory.

PURPOSE To guarantee the conservation19 of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services and the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from it, in order help improve the quality of life of the Colombian population.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE To promote the Integral Management of the Conservation of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services so that the resilience of socio-ecological systems is maintained, on national, regional and local scales, taking into account scenarios of change and through the joint, coordinated and concerted action of the State, the productive sector and civil society.

THEMATIC AXES AND STRATEGIC LINES AXIS 1. BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION AND THE CARE OF NATURE This refers to the need to undertake actions of in situ and ex situ conservation, both in wild areas (protected or not) and transformed20 conti19 Conservation is the result of undertaking actions in the territory of preservation, sustainable use, restoration and the generation of knowledge. 20 Transformed landscapes are areas of the country which evidence a historic modification caused by human activities. This term groups together rural, conurban and urban landscapes. They are characterized that way because the dominant matrix of the landscape is a mosaic made up of manmade covers and productive ecosystems (agro-ecosystems) and native natural and semi-natural ecosystems.

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nental, marine, coastal and island landscapes, so viable populations of flora and fauna and the resilience of socio-ecological systems are maintained and the supply of ecosystemic services is upheld on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales. Strategic Lines 1. To strengthen and link actions of the in situ and ex situ conservation of biodiversity through preservation, restoration and sustainable use linked to traditional, non-detrimental practices, both in wild areas and transformed landscapes, in order to maintain the resilience of socio-ecological systems and the supply of ecosystemic services on national, regional, local and transfrontier scales. 2. To identify and implement processes for the ecological restructuring of territory on national, regional and local scales, linked to the processes of consolidating the National System of Protected Areas(SINAP) 21; the environmental ordering and zoning of protective national forest reserves; giving priority to the conservation of the ecosystems of páramos and wetlands; the ordering of natural forests and other in situ conservation actions (previous numeral), in order to guide territorial ordering and maintain the resilience of socioecological systems as well as the supply of ecosystemic services. 3. To promote and strengthen activities for the recuperation, protection and in situ and ex situ conservation of wild species in danger of extinction. 4. To promote and strengthen activities for the recuperation, protection and in situ and ex situ conservation of 21 According to Decree 2372 of 2010 and CONPES document 3680, the process for the Consolidation of the National System of Protected Areas (SINAP) of the country must be undertaken on the basis of activities which allow for a complete, ecologically representative and effectively managed system.

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autochthonous varieties of domesticated animals and cultivated plants and their wild relatives, and also traditional practices of biodiversity use, to maintain alimentary security and adaptation to climate change. 5. To strengthen the activities and national, regional and local institutional framework for the control, monitoring and vigilance of the exploitation, trafficking and illegal commercialization of wild species, as well as the post-confiscation management of flora and fauna. 6. To strengthen the activities and institutional framework related to the conservation of biological and genetic resources, their derivatives and the associated traditional knowledge, as well as a better knowledge of them, in order to improve the quality of life through the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from these resources.

AXIS II. BIODIVERSITY, GOVERNANCE22 AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC VALUE This refers to the need to strengthen the relationship between the State and citizens (urban and rural), in order integrally manage biodiversity and its ecosystemic services through participation in and co-responsibility for conservation actions, so that the maintenance of biodiversity in explicit socioecosystemic contexts may be assumed and socially perceived as an irreplaceable benefit which maintains and improves the quality of life on national, regional and local scales. 22 Governance is understood to be comprised of the interactions among structures, processes and traditions which determine how power is exercised, how decisions are made about subjects of public interest and how citizens and other actors participate (Graham et al. 2003), for the achievement of a lasting economic, social and institutional development, and a healthy equilibrium between the State, the civil society and the market economy (Cano 2007).

Strategic Lines 1. Strengthening the mechanisms and opportunities for social participation in the making of decisions on the local level to increase the adaptive capacity of institutions23 in territorial management. 2. Intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage to improve the effectiveness and guidance of decision-making related to the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services. 3. Improvement of the management capacity of public institutions for the conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, starting with the creation of public value. 4. Conceptual and methodological development to incorporate the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services into the different tools for planning and territorial ordering. 5.

Updating of and/or linkage between existing and future management tools (policies, norms, plans, programs and projects) related to the different levels of the organization of biodiversity, so that they may be consistent with the conceptual and strategic outlines of this policy.

6. Strengthening, linkage and accompaniment in the implementation of the regulatory framework for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services. 7. Development and strengthening of local systems for the transformation of socio-environmental conflicts associated with the Integral 23 The adaptive capacity of institutions refers to the capacity which institutions have to give flexibility to their management mechanisms in the face of social, economic, ecosystemic and political changes, through learning, experimentation and innovation.

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Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services. 8. Recognition and incorporation of traditional bodies of knowledge and practices into all the levels of the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services.

AXIS III. BIODIVERSITY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, COMPETITIVENESS AND QUALITY OF LIFE This refers to the need to incorporate biodiversity and the supply of ecosystemic services into the planning and taking of sectorial decisions so that co-responsibility is created for undertaking actions for conservation and integral valuation (economic and noneconomic) and thus allows for the maintenance of the sustainability of the actions of production, extraction, settlement and consumption and the improvement of the quality of life on national, regional and local scales. Strategic Lines 1. Develop schemes and instruments for the integral valuation (economic and non-economic) of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, related to production, extraction, settlement and consumption, in order to guide territorial ordering and recognize its importance in guaranteeing the sustainability of production and national competitiveness. 2. Maintain systems for the conservation of biodiversity and incorporate them into productive and extractive systems, as a strategy for maintaining and increasing the supply of ecosystemic services which are fundamental for the quality of life. 3. Strengthen alliances between the public and private sectors, as well as intra- and inter- institutional and inter-sectorial linkage, in order to position biodiversity as a strategic element in the country´s economic and sectorial policies. 84

4. Identification and evaluation of the long term economic, ecological, cultural and social costs and benefits derived from the relationship between productive activities and the maintenance of the ecosystemic services derived from biodiversity (“trade offs”). 5. Strengthen the activities of and institutional framework for the legal commerce of wild species (specimens, parts and/or derivatives) for national and international markets. 6. Strengthen the activities of and institutional framework for the evaluation of environmental impacts, the recuperation of environmental deficits and the allocation of environmental indemnities for environmental loss linked to projects that may receive environmental licenses, on a national, regional and local scale, to maintain the resilience of socio-ecological systems and the supply of ecosystemic services fundamental for the quality of life. 7.

Identification of the areas apt for the development of productive and extractive activities as well as activities of environmental compensation linked to environmental licensing, for the guidance of territorial ordering and to maintain the resilience of socioecological systems and the supply of ecosystemic services fundamental for the quality of life.

AXIS IV. BIODIVERSITY AND THE MANAGEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION This refers to the need to promote, strengthen and coordinate the generation, recuperation, linkage and dissemination of information, knowledge and technological developments arising from different systems of knowledge which help to nourish and guide the taking of decisions for the realization of an Integral Management of Biodiversity and its

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Ecosystemic Services on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales.

quality of life on national, regional, local and transfrontier scales is not jeopardized.

Strategic Lines 1. To strengthen and encourage the management of knowledge and information to guide and uphold the taking of decisions about the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services and also increase its integral valuation (economic and non-economic) by economic, environmental and social24 sectors.

Strategic Lines 1. To promote and strengthen management capacity and intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage in order to identify, prevent and mitigate the risks associated with environmental change (loss and transformation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services + variability and climate change) on a local, regional and national scale.

2. The inclusion and harmonization of priorities for research into biodiversity and its ecosystemic services in the national policies and plans related to science, technology and innovation.

2. Promote and strengthen management capacity and intra- and inter-institutional and inter-sectorial linkage to increase socio-ecosystemic adaptive capacity so that the supply of ecosystemic services is maintained on a regional and national scale and the turning of the measures developed into poor adaptations25 is avoided.

3. Strengthening of the processes for undertaking an inventory and monitoring of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, through cartography on adequate scales, collection and the evaluation of the components, structures and functions of biodiversity. 4. Undertake the identification of the thresholds of stability and change in socio-ecological systems at different scales in order to guide decisionmaking about territory, especially those related to the use of biodiversity on its different levels of organization.

AXIS V. MANAGEMENT OF RISK AND SUPPLY OF ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES This refers to the need to undertake actions to confront the threats related to environmental change (loss and transformation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services + variability and climate change), in order to maintain socio-ecosystemic resilience and reduce its vulnerability, following an ecosystem-based approach to mitigation and adaptation, so that the 24 In this area it is important to underline the need to strengthen and more effectively operationalize the Environmental System for Colombia (SIAC) and its sub-systems, so that they deliver more and better information to support decision-making

3. Strengthen and implement schemes for evaluating risks and early warning systems to prevent potential effects of environmental change on socioecosystems. 4. Development of mechanisms of risk transference26 in the face of events 25 “Poor adaptation” is defined as a “development of the traditional viewpoint, which, by not taking the effects of climate change into account, unwittingly increase exposure and/or vulnerability to environmental change” (adapted from OCDE 2008). “Poor adaptation” may occur when there is no evident need for adaption in current circumstances but existing practices of development yield short-term benefits and at the same time increase long-term risks (e.g. agricultural expansion in zones which are currently humid but which will become too dry according to scientific projections, and thus will not support agriculture in the long-term) (UNDP 2009). 26 Risk transference refers to situations where one confronts risks which are difficult to manage and/or are unlikely to occur but may be very severe and, due to their characteristics, cause grave impacts on a community, city or nation. In these cases, one may choose to transfer the risk to a third party who helps with restoration, rehabilitation and/or reconstruction. Examples of mechanisms for the transference of risk may be found in the insurance industry and capital markets (Cardona 2005; Menéndez 2007).

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related to environmental change, so that the supply of ecosystemic services is maintained and recovered.

AXIS VI. BIODIVERSITY, CO-RESPONSIBILITY AND GLOBAL COMMITMENTS This refers to actions which the country should develop to strengthen its international positioning as a megadiverse country which supplies ecosystemic services of global importance at the same time that it undertakes national actions to help in the world fight against the climatic-ecological challenges (environmental change) which threaten the stability of the planet. Strategic Lines 1. Linkage on a national level of the international commitments signed and ratified by Colombia (pag.12-13) to strengthen the integral management of the conservation of Biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. 2. Positioning and strengthening of the conservation of biodiversity and

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its ecosystemic services as a distinguishing feature of the country which is strategic in international negotiations. 3. Promote coordinated and joint actions with neighboring countries for the conservation of biodiversity and their common and trans-frontier ecosystemic services. 4. Strengthening of the international position of the country in the field of biodiversity to optimize strategies and improve the mechanisms of international cooperation. 5. Development of national actions which contribute to the achievement of global objectives for confronting global environmental change, especially in relation to climate change (including the fight against desertification and drought), the supply of ecosystemic services, biosafety, invasive exotic species and the illegal trafficking of species.

PROCESS OF FORMULATING THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES (PANGIBSE)

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The National Policy for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (PNGIBSE) will have, for its implementation, a National Action Plan for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (PANGIBSE), which will specifically define programs, projects, responsible parties, goals and indicators for the fulfillment of each of the strategic lines set forth in the Policy. For the formulation of the PANGIBSE, the country will apply for resources from the Global Environment Fund (FMAM/GEF), through the Enabling Activity for the formulation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAP). This Plan will have to be based on a strategy for assigning priorities to the subjects and the implementation of the same, where actors on the national, regional and local scales participate and which will be periodically reviewed and evaluated (every four years approximately), so that its integral management may be more focused, agile and effective and thus facilitate knowledge of the extent of the Plan´s implementation, the taking of necessary corrective measures and the emphasizing, adjustment and re-programming of national priorities in accordance with the results of the evaluation. In addition, the National Action Plan will have to count on a system of continuous follow-up through indicators for state, pressure and response, so that it may be an integral management tool – adaptive, flexible and innovative – which allows for the management of change in socio-ecological systems and promotes social and sectorial co-responsibility in conservation actions and the recognition of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services as a public value. As was explained in the section on the operationalization of the GIBSE (page 43), the Autonomous Regional Corporations (CARs) and Corporations of Sustainable Development (CDSs) and the Urban Environmental Authorities (AAUs) will have to formulate and/or update their Regional Biodiversity Action Plans (PARGIBSE), in order to conceptually and strategically link them with this Policy and its National Action Plan. These Regional Plans will also be formulated in a participatory manner and periodically evaluated (every four years approximately) and will turn into the “road map” for guiding the management of these institutions, so

that the conservation of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services on regional and local scales is guaranteed. Like the National Plan, the Regional Plans will have to count on a system of continuous follow-up through indicators of state, pressure and response. The formulation of the National Action Plan, as well as its evaluation and follow-up, must be the result of a concerted and participatory process which the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development will carry out through the Directorate of Forests, Biodiversity and Ecosystemic Services, with the technical support of the National Parks Unit, the research institutes affiliated and linked with the Ministry, the National Planning Department and also representatives of all the groups of actors identified with (page 17; Figure 2) and involved in the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services. In this process of participation and coordination, regional characteristics and priorities will have to be taken into account, in the awareness that those efforts must help to achieve the objectives and national goals of the National Policy for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services. Since the specific actions will be defined in the National Action Plan, it is there that the costs and sources of funding for its implementation will be defined. However, the State, headed by the MADS, counts on resources from the General Budget of the Nation which are allocated for the technical and regulatory orchestration of this Policy. Additionally, measures will be taken to broaden the financial framework and the framework for middle-term spending in order to guarantee the fulfillment of the objectives set forth. Nevertheless, it is fundamental that other actors from the public and private sector contribute funds to the implementation of this Policy, since they are direct and indirect users and beneficiaries of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. Additionally, the Ministry, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Colombian Presidential Agency for International Cooperation (APC), will apply to international cooperation bodies and the multilateral banks to obtain the resources needed for the development of the National Action Plan. 89

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Taking into account that the Policy will count on a National Action Plan for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (PANGIBSE), through which the actions for each of the specific objective set forth will be developed, that will be the instrument which defines the indicators for undertaking the monitoring, evaluation and followup of the activities which are defined in accordance with the targets which are agreed on, so that sufficient and trustworthy information may be counted on, both on the base line for the state of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services, and the areas related to the integral management of the same.

research institutes affiliated and linked with it, as well as the sectorial, regional and territorial governmental agencies which the MAVDT takes into consideration.

THE CBD STRATEGIC PLAN: 2010-2020 AND THE AICHI TARGETS

After the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010, a new Strategic Plan was defined, with 5 strategic objectives The follow-up of the Policy through the and 20 targets known as the Aichi targets (Table 12). National Action Plan for the Integral Management of The vision of this new Strategic Plan is “By 2050, biodiBiodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (PANGIBSE) versity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, will be led by the Ministry of Environment and Sustai- maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy nable Development (MADS), with the support of the planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.”

Table 12. Aichi strategic goals and targets, defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity under resolution UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/REC/XV/1; December 7, 2011 Strategic Goal A: Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society

Strategic Goal B: Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use

Target 1 By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably. Target 2 By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values have been integrated into national and local development and poverty reduction strategies and planning processes and are being incorporated into national accounting, as appropriate, and reporting systems. Target 3 By 2020, at the latest, incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity are eliminated, phased out or reformed in order to minimize or avoid negative impacts, and positive incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are developed and applied, consistent and in harmony with the Convention and other relevant international obligations, taking into account national socio economic conditions. Target 4 By 2020, at the latest, Governments, business and stakeholders at all levels have taken steps to achieve or have implemented plans for sustainable production and consumption and have kept the impacts of use of natural resources well within safe ecological limits.

Target 5 By 2020, the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced. Target 6 By 2020 all fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying ecosystem based approaches, so that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits. Target 7 By 2020 areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity. Target 8 By 2020, pollution, including from excess nutrients, has been brought to levels that are not detrimental to ecosystem function and biodiversity. Target 9 By 2020, invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their introduction and establishment. Target 10 By 2015, the multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification are minimized, so as to maintain their integrity and functioning.

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Strategic Goal C: To improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity

Strategic Goal D: Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Target 11

Target 14

By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes.

By 2020, ecosystems that provide essential services, including services related to water, and contribute to health, livelihoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into account the needs of women, indigenous and local communities, and the poor and vulnerable. Target 15

By 2020, ecosystem resilience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks has been enhanced, through conservation and restoration, inBy 2020 the extinction of known threatened species has been prevented and cluding restoration of at least 15 per cent of degraded ecosystems, thereby their conservation status, particularly of those most in decline, has been im- contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to combating desertification. proved and sustained. Target 12

Target 13

Target 16

By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and farmed and domes- By 2015, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair ticated animals and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is in force well as culturally valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been and operational, consistent with national legislation. developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity. Strategic Goal E: Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building Target 17 By 2015 each Party has developed, adopted as a policy instrument, and has commenced implementing an effective, participatory and updated national biodiversity strategy and action plan. Target 18 By 2020, the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and their customary use of biological resources, are respected, subject to national legislation and relevant international obligations, and fully integrated and reflected in the implementation of the Convention with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities, at all relevant levels. Target 19 By 2020, knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved, widely shared and transferred, and applied. Target 20 By 2020, at the latest, the mobilization of financial resources for effectively implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 from all sources, and in accordance with the consolidated and agreed process in the Strategy for Resource Mobilization, should increase substantially from the current levels. This target will be subject to changes contingent to resource needs assessments to be developed and reported by Parties.

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES AND THE AICHI TARGETS FOR BIODIVERSITY: 2020

on the definition of a set of indicators to evaluate the advance and fulfillment of the Aichi targets (Document: UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/REC/XV/1; December 7, 2011). Although there is no agreement on the adoption of these indicators, the SBSTTA recommends that the Parties regard both the Aichi Targets for Biological Diversity and the proposed framework of indicators as a flexible foundation that should be adapted by the member countries in line with their different circumstances and national capacities. Thus, it urges The Convention of Biological Diversity, the Parties to consider utilizing the flexible framework through its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and suggested list of indicators in its national strateand Technological Advice (SBSTTA) has been working gies and actions plans on biological diversity.

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In the case of Colombia, the Aichi targets and their indicators will be adjusted and defined for the national level, during the formulation phase of the National Action Plan (PANGIBSE). Nevertheless, national fulfillment of the 2020 Aichi targets is a very good reference point for the integral manage-

ment of biodiversity, in that it enables the country to attain the desired long-term situation in each of the thematic axes of the PNGIBSE (Table 13). The follow-up of the activities laid down in the PANGIBSE should be annual, while the evaluation will have to be every four years.

Table 13. Aichi targets which each of the thematic axes of the policy contribute to and the desired situation for each thematic aspect in the long term (2032)

Thematic Axis

Situation Desired in 2032 with the PNGIBSE

BIODIVERSITY, For the country, the in situ and ex situ conservation of biodiversity is the basis PROTECTION AND CARE OF for maintaining socio-ecosystemic resilience in wild and protected areas and NATURE transformed landscapes on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales, so that ecosystemic services which are crucial for human well-being are abundant and of high quality.

Aichi Targets for 2020 to which each thematic axis of the PNGIBSE for 2020 contributes Target 2

Target 12

Target 5

Target 13

Target 6

Target 14

Target 7

Target 16

Target 11 BIODIVERSITY, GOVERNANCE AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC VALUE

BIODIVERSITY, DEVELOPMENT, COMPETITIVENESS AND QUALITY OF LIFE

BIODIVERSITY, AND THE MANAGEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION

Colombian society recognizes biodiversity and its ecosystemic services as a Target 1 public value that must be conserved to maintain the quality of life of present generations and its enjoyment by future ones and it integrally manages it on the Target 2 basis of models of governance. Target 4

The public and private productive sectors are actively involved, in a coresponsible manner, in the actions which allow for the realization of an Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services, so that the role which it plays in the maintenance of the country´s productive sustainability and competitiveness is integrally recognized and valued. The country has increased investments in the areas of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services in the national agendas and CT&I (scientific research, promotion of traditional knowledge, publication and innovation –national patents-), and this knowledge and information is a constant and sufficient input which supports the taking of decisions of concern to the GIBSE

Target 14 Target 16 Target 18

Target 11

Target 19

Target 13

Target 20

Target 2

Target 11

Target 3

Target 12

Target 4

Target 13

Target 7

Target 20

Target 11 Target 14 Target 18 Target 19

BIODIVERSITY, RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE SUPPLY OF ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES

The country has reduced its vulnerability to the effects of environmental change, by reducing biodiversity loss and mitigating and adapting itself to variability and climate change and by maintaining socio-ecosystemic resilience on national, regional, local and trans-frontier scales, so that the supply of ecosystemic services fundamental to the quality of life is not at risk.

Target 5

Target 10

Target 6

Target 11

Target 8

Target 15

Target 9

Target 18

BIODIVERSITY, CORESPONSIBILITY AND GLOBAL COMMITMENTS

Target 10 On the basis of its recognition of biodiversity as a public value, the country continues to effectively comply with its international commitments and thanks Target 11 to its being a supplier of ecosystemic services of global importance, it has positioned itself in the world as an attractive target for sustainable development and as an actor who assumes co-responsibility for global environmental challenges.

PNGIBSE AND NATIONAL ACTION PLAN

Effective implementation of the PNGIBSE through the National Action Plan, which is constantly adjusted on the basis of a periodical evaluation (every 4 years) and a continuous follow-up.

Target 15 Target 16

Target 17 Target 20

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ACTIONS WHICH ARE PRIORITY IN THE SHORT TERM (2014) IN THE REALIZATION OF THE GIBSE Although the first step in the implementation of this policy will be the formulation of the PANGIBSE, Table 14 presents the actions for the integral management of biodiversity and its ecosys-

temic services which are a priority for the country in the short term (2014). These targets are aligned with the proposals in the National Development Plan: 2010 – 2014.

Table 14. Actions and targets which are a priority in the short term (2014) for the realization of the integral management of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. These targets are consistent with the proposals for the National Development Plan: 2010-21014. Key subjects of the GIBSE to be applied

Strategic line or lines which aim at the activities

Action which is a priority for 2014

Target proposed for 2014

Estimated Budget for the period (COP)1

(Axis/line) I/2

Ecological Structuring of Territory

I/3 Biodiversity as the foundation of Territorial Ordering

I/4 II/2

1,186, 343 hectares of páramo and wetland systems demarcated on an adequate scale.

II/4

Socio-ecosystemic Focus II/6 Maintenance of the resilience and adaptive capacity of the socioecological systems

II/7

Dynamic Connectivity Between Scales of Time and Space.

III/4

Recognition and Integration of the Different Systems of Knowledge

$ 17,652,140,000 100% of the Main Ecological Structure of the Nation defined on a national scale (1: 100,000 to 1: 500,000)

3,000,000 hectares incorporated into the SINAP which, as a priority, comprise ecosystems typical of the Orinoco, dry forests, marinecoastal and oceanic areas.

III/3 III/6 III/7

15,000,000 hectares of natural forest ordered and adopted through norms

IV/4 V/1 V/2 V/3 VI/3

Implementation of measures to confront Environmental Change

94

I/3

IV/3

I/4

IV/4

II/7

V/1

III/2

V/2

III/4

VI/5

Restoration, recuperation and rehabilitation of ecosystems

280,000 hectares restored or $ 224,749,000 rehabilitated for protective aims, including biological corridors for connectivity and the prevention of deforestation.

Prevent the deforestation of 200,000 of the 61 million hectares of natural forest

Prevent the deforestation of 200,000 of the 61 million hectares of natural forest

III/6 I/1

II/7

II/2

V/1

II/3

V/2

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Key subjects of the GIBSE to be applied

Strategic line or lines which aim at the activities

Action which is a priority for 2014

Target proposed for 2014

Estimated Budget for the period (COP)1

(Axis/line) I/1

III/3

I/3

III/6

II/2

IV/3

II/3

IV/4

II/4

V/2

Implementation of a new scheme of environmental indemnities for biodiversity loss

--

$ 10,841,290,300

II/5

Strengthening of the Adaptive Capacity of Institutions

I/2

II/6

II/2

III/1

II/3

III/3

II/4

III/4

II/5

III/7

II/2

III/1

II/3

III/3

II/5

III/5

V/1

Design a strategy for including Strategy Designed environmental considerations in the private taking of decisions about the location of industries and productive activities. Promote the implementation of the inter-sectorial pact for legal timber

20 regional agreements for legal timber signed.

Implement the national plan 12 plans formulated for the same for the control of invasive, number of invasive, exotic and exotic and transplanted species transplanted species

V/2 V/3 VI/5 I/5

National strategy for the 10 plans formulated for the same prevention and control of the number of species subject to illegal trafficking of wild species illegal trafficking implemented

II/6

Formulate the national REDD strategy with co-benefits, which facilitates the economic development of communities and ethnic groups on entering into the global carbon market

Strategy formulated

Formulate and develop the strategy for social coresponsibility in the fight against forest fires

Strategy formulated

Harmonize the regulatory framework for access to genetic resources

100 contracts for access to genetic resources signed

Design and implement an international strategy for promoting Colombia as a mega-diverse and environmentally attractive country

Strategy Formulated

Continue with the inventories of biodiversity

--

II/7 III/1 III/3 V/1 VI/5 II/1

V/2

II/3

V/3

V/1

VI/5

I/6 II/3 II/5 VI/2 VI/4

IV/3

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NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Key subjects of the GIBSE to be applied

Strategic line or lines which aim at the activities

Action which is a priority for 2014

Target proposed for 2014

Estimated Budget for the period (COP)1

(Axis/line) II/1

II/5

II/2

II/6

II/3

II/7

II/4 II/1

II/6

II/3

II/7

II/4 I/3 IV/1 IV/2

I/1 I/3 I/4 II/1

--

Obtain agreements with ethnic groups on special strategies for the management of protected areas. Promote the formulation of programs for the development of technologies for the restoration, recuperation and rehabilitation of ecosystems and the sustainable use of biodiversity, in coordination with the National System of Science and Technology Policy guidelines for the integral management of the biodiversity of the Colombian Orinoco and Amazon regions and the Colombian Massif

--

--

Guidelines and policies formulated

National Environmental Policy for soil resources formulated

II/2 II/3

Formulation of the national policy for hydro-biological resources.

II/5 II/7

. National policy for the environmental management of wild fauna adjusted and implemented. Updated map of continental, Map updated (coverages 2007coastal and marine ecosystems 2010), scale 1:500,000 and coverages 1: 100,000 Design and implement tools 3 strategic ecosystems, with their $ 3,856,000,000 ecosystemic services, identified for the identification and and valued. valuation of ecosystemic services and their links with human welfare

Improve the effectiveness of the management of the areas of the national natural parks system

III/3 III/4 III/5 VI/2 II/1

III/1

II/2

III/3

II/4

III/4

Promote schemes to characterize national production, adding the value of the associated ecosystemic services and recognizing this factor as a comparative advantage in international markets Promote the inclusion of the principle of co-responsibility in sectorial plans

--

--

1 Amounts estimated on the basis of the National Government´s “Inventory of Projects and Sources” for the period 2012215. The estimated amounts are based on the amounts estimated for 2014.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Adaptability and adaptive capacity: Capacity to adapt to change. It is also the actors´capacity to influence the system´s resilience. Adaptation: The adjustment of natural or huam systems to new or changing surroundings. Different kinds of adaptation can be distinguished, including preventive and reactive adaptation, private and public adaptation and autonomous and planned adaptation (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Alternative State: Identified by a change in the dominant organisms or the structure of the system and the processes which reinforce a particular state. Ancestral or traditional knowledge: Cumulative set of bodies of knowledge, practices and beliefs which have evolved through adaptive processes in human groups and been transmitted over generations. Traditional knowledge is not always exclusive to indigenous or local communities: it is distinguished by the way it is acquired and used through social processes of learning and the exchange of knowledge (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Backcrossing: refers to the crossing of a first-generation hybrid descendant with one of their parents or with a genotype identical to the parental one. Biodiversity: According to the Convention on Biological Diversity: “biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”. Biological resource: individuals, organisms or parts of these, populations or any biotic component of real or potential value or utility which contains the genetic resource or its derived products (Andean Community decision 391). Bio-prospecting: Exploration of biological diversity to identify genetic and biochemical resources of social and commercial value (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).

Biotechnology: Any technological application which uses biological systems, live organisms or their derivatives with the aim of creating of modifying products or processes for specific uses (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Bottlenecks: Refers to a situation when, as a result of ecosystemic loss, indiscriminate hunting or other processes, the number of members of a population or species drastically falls, reaching the edge of extinction in some cases. As a result of these bottlenecks, later generations have a meager genetic variability. Climate change: “Climate change means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods” United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Complex system: The representation of an outline of that reality, conceptualized as an organized whole (hence it is termed a system), in which the elements which make it up are not “separable” and therefore cannot be studied or handled in an isolated manner (Carcía 2008). Conservation of biodiversity: An implicit factor or quality which results from the realization of actions of preservation, sustainable use, the generation of knowledge and restoration. It is the main aim of the integral management of biodiversity and its ecosystemic services. Cultural ecosystemic services: Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, creation and aesthetic experiences. Derived product: molecule, or combination or mixture of natural molecules, including raw extracts of live or dead organisms of biological origin, derived from the metabolism of live beings. Disturbance: In ecological terms a disturbance is an event, relatively discrete in time, which comes from without and alters ecosystems, communities or populations, changes the availability of resources and creates opportunities for the establishment of new individuals or colonies. 111

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

Driver or Driving force of biodiversity state or at least reach a point of good health, integrity transformation or loss. Every natural factor or one and sustainability (SER, 2002). induced by human beings which causes a direct or indiEcosystem: “dynamic complex of plant, rect change in an ecosystem (Millennium Ecosystem animal and micro-organism communities and their Assessment 2005). non-living environment interacting as a functional Ecological footprint: A measure of unit.” (Convention on Biological Diversity). Commumankind´s demands on the biosphere, in terms of the nity or type of vegetation, understanding community biologically productive area of earth and sea required as an assemblage of populations of species that occur for a constant supply of renewable resources and the together in time and space. absorption of the wastes produced by its consumption. Ecosystemic approach: Strategy for the Its unit of measurement are global hectares. integrated management of lands, areas of water and Ecological recuperation (reclamation): live resources in which conservation and sustainable its objective is to restore the utility of an ecosystem use are promoted. This is based on the application of without having a pre-disturbed state as a reference adequate scientific methodologies which are focused point. In this process, a degraded ecosystem is replaced on the levels of biological organization which cover by another, productive one, but these actions do not essential structures, processes, functions and the interestore the original ecosystem. Includes techniques like ractions between organisms and the environment. In stabilization, aesthetic improvement and in general, this approach human beings, with their cultural diverrestoring lands to what may be regarded as a useful sity, are recognized as an integral component of many purpose within the regional context. ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Ecological rehabilitation: A process which does not imply returning to the original state and is focused on the reestablishment, in a partial way, of the structural or functional elements of the deteriorated ecosystem, as well as the productivity and environmental services which the ecosystem provides, through the application of certain techniques. It is possible to recuperate the ecosystemic function without completely recuperating its structure, that is, one may rehabilitate the ecosystemic function, even with the replacement of the species which compose it (Samper, 2000). On occasions, the planting of native trees or dominant pioneering species of ecological importance may initiate rehabilitation. Ecological resilience: The capacity of a system to absorb perturbations, maintain its identity (basic structure and manners of functioning) and continue to supply ecosystemic services of a magnitude and frequency needed to sustain human needs and the ecological processes of biophysical systems. Resilience depends on the ecological dynamic, as well as the organization and capacity of institutions to understand, manage and respond to this dynamic (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).

Ecosystemic degradation: Persistent reduction of the capacity of ecosystems to supply services (see “Ecosystemic services”) (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Ecosystemic services: Those processes and functions of ecosystems which human beings regard as direct or indirect benefits (of an ecological, cultural or economic kind). They include those of supply, like water and food; regulation, like the regulation of floods, droughts, degradation of terrains and diseases; sustenance, like the formation of the substratum and recycling of nutrients; and cultural ones of a spiritual, religious or recreational kind or other intangible benefits. Ecosystemic services of regulation: Benefits resulting from the regulation of ecosystemic processes, including the maintenance of the quality of air, the regulation of climate, the control of erosion, the control of human diseases and the purification of water. Ecosystemic services of supply: Goods and products obtained from ecosystems, like foods, fibers, timber, water and genetic resources.

Ecological restoration: a focused or at Ecosystemic services of support: Ecololeast deliberate process by which actions are under- gical services and processes necessary for the supply taken to help an altered ecosystem recuperate its initial and existence of the other ecosystemic services, inclu112

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

ding primary production, the formation of soil and the cycling of nutrients, among others.

on their own or together, lead to multi-scale changes in the functioning of the terrestrial system (Duarte et al. 2006) in a way that directly affects human wellbeing and survival.

Endangered species: Refers to a group of species which have been placed in a category of risk of extinction, like “Critically Endangered”, “Endangered” Within environmental change one detects or “Vulnerable”, following the definitions of the Red climatic – atmospheric processes (for example, climate Lists of the IUCN (2001). change, climatic variability, acid rain, the deterioration of the ozone layer); biodiversity loss (e.g. the Endemic species: Species or higher taxotransformation of covers – ecosystems – and soil uses, nomic unit restricted to a specific geographic area the breaking of bio-geographical barriers, species (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). invasion, overexploitation) and the modification of bioEnvironmental services: Services related geochemical cycles (e.g., changes in N, P, K, C cycles); to the environment which are not necessarily created contamination). (Vitousek 1994; Steffen et al. 2004). by the functioning and management of ecosystems, but Governability: Governability is the are related to the supply of environmental resources group of political conditions which mediate interests or environmental cleanups provided by industries and social organizations, like sewage services, the collec- and achieve the political support required to govern. tion and disposal of garbage, cleanups and similar Governability depends on the dynamic equilibrium services, as well as services which reduce vehicle emis- between society´s right to make legitimate demands and the institutional system´s capacity to deal with sions or noise. them in an effective manner (Fontaine, Van Vliet and Exotic species (Introduced species): Pasquis, 2007). Species introduced outside of their normal range of distribution (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Governance: Interactions among structures, processes and traditions which determine how Ex situ conservation: Conservation of power is exercised, how decisions are taken on subjects the components of biological diversity outside of their of public interest and how citizens and other actors natural habitats (Convention on Biological Diversity) participate (Graham et al. 2003). It is the set of social, Ex situ Conservation Center: Institu- administrative and financial conditions needed to tion authorized by a responsible national authority implement and apply political decisions adapted with to conserve and collect genetic resources, compo- the aim of exercising authority (Fontaine, Van Vliet nents or products derived from biodiversity outside and Pasquis, 2007). of their range of distribution (Andean Community of Hybridization: The formation of a hybrid, Nations – CAN). that is, the offspring of two genetically dissimilar indiFunctional group diversity: Group of viduals (Schmidt, 1997). organisms which carry out different functions in a In situ conservation: The “on site” consersystem (pollination, predation, nitrogen fixing, etc.) vation of the genetic resources of selected species within (Folke et al. 2004). the natural or original ecosystem in which they appear Functional response diversity: Variety of or in the place formerly occupied by that ecosystem. responses which are possible in an ecosystem in the Although the concept is usually applied to naturally face of environmental changes. regenerated species, in situ conservation may also be Genetic resource: All material of a biolo- understood as artificial regeneration, always provided gical nature which contains genetic information of real that the plantation or sowing is done without a delibeor potential utility (Andean Community decision 391). rate selection and in the same area where the seeds or other reproductive material were gathered. Global change: The result of a set of Institutional adaptive capacity: Refers to atmospheric, climatic, ecological and bio-geochemical changes accelerated and accentuated by human acti- the ability of institutions to be flexible in their manavities of settlement; production and extraction, which, gement mechanisms in the face of social, economic, 113

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ecosystemic and political changes, through learning, Public awareness: The subject of public experimentation and innovation. education and awareness is dealt with in Article 13 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which states Integral Management of Biodiversity: that “The Contracting Parties shall: Process by which one plans, executes and monitors the actions required for the conservation of biodiversity a. Promote and encourage underand its ecosystemic services (knowledge, preservation, standing of the importance of, and use and preservation), in a defined social and territorial the measures required for, the conserscenario, with the aim of maximizing social welfare vation of biological diversity, as well through the maintenance of the adaptive capacity of as its propagation through media, and socio-ecosystems on local, regional and national scales. the inclusion of these topics in educaIntrogression: The movement of genes tional programmes; and from one species to another as the result of a process of b. Cooperate, as appropriate, with other inter-specific hybridization, followed by backcrossing. States and international organizations Modified Live Organisms: any organism in developing educational and public which has a novel combination of genetic material awareness programmes, with respect obtained from the use of modern biotechnology (Cartato the conservation and sustainable gena Protocol on Biosafety 2000). use of biological diversity. Political awareness: Understood as a Public policy: Public policies are goversocial aptitude for interpreting the emotional currents nmental decisions shaped into plans, programs, of a collectivity and its relations of power. It should be regarded as a relevant factor, linked to political beha- projections, actions or omissions which seek to manivior, in organizations. Through it, people with that fest ideas about the order of society, solve problems and social skill interpret, with precision, the basic relations harmonize the conflicting demands which arise from of power, use their social perception to find networks the relations of power between different social groups. which are crucial to the relations among persons and These decisions are adopted within legitimate fields of are able to understand the strengths of groups and jurisdiction, in accordance with previously established organizations in order to shape the visions and actions legal procedures and are a means to attain the objectives of followers and competitors. and aims of an organized society (Aguilar Villanueva, 1996). Public policies assume or imply open deliberaPrecautionary principle: A management concept which states when there is a danger of tions, the circulation of opinions, argumentation and grave or irreversible harm, the lack of absolute scien- the creation of consensuses. They recognize that politific certainty will not be used as a reason to avoid the tics is the ambit where one decides which problems implementation of measures to prevent the degra- are most important for society as a whole, how these dation of the environment (Millennium Ecosystem problems should be dealt with, how many resources should be invested and who, how and what they should Assessment 2005). be spent on. In this context, public policies will be the Preservation of biodiversity: Refers to instrument through which these decisions are realized the maintenance of the natural state of biodiversity and where one defines the set of actions which allow and ecosystems through the limitation or prevention for the achievement of the objectives which the policy of human interventions in them. sets forth. In this process political discussions are taken into account; problems and solutions are speciProtected areas: Surface of the land or sea fically distinguished; controversies and confrontations especially set aside for the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, as well as associated natural and are determined; the subjects are linked to broader or cultural resources managed through juridical or other more sequential solutions; joint efforts are proposed effective means (International Union for Conserva- and mechanisms are established for the actors to partition of Nature, IUCN, at the 4th World Congress on cipate in the proposed solutions, in accordance with National Parks and Protected Areas, Caracas, 1992). their powers (Lahera 2003). 114

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Regime: an identifiable configuration of the system. A regime has characteristic structures, functions and feedbacks. Regime Change: The rapid reorganization of a system from a relatively unchanging state or from one regime to another. Revegetalization: a process which is normally a component of recuperation. It may mean the establishment of only one or a few vegetal species. Risk: The probability that a disaster may occur. It will depend both on the threat produced by a natural or human phenomenon, capable of unleashing a disaster, and the vulnerability of a socio-ecological system to being affected by the threat. This relationship between threat and vulnerability to the creation of risk can expressed by the formula: Risk= Threat * Vulnerability. Scalarity: Influences between the dynamics of the systems on one scale and the dynamics of those which are integrated into the system or outside of it. Scale: Any measurable dimension. For the evaluation and management of resilience, the scale of a socio-ecological system is determined by: landscape/local, subcontinental/subregional, continental/ regional and global scales, respectively. Socio-ecological system: A system which integrates ecosystems and human society with reciprocal and interdependent feedbacks. The concept stresses human perspectives on nature. It is the system in which the cultural, political, social, economic, ecological, technological, etc. interact. Species diversity: Biological diversity on the level of species, which often combines aspects of wealth (number of species), relative abundance and their dissimilarity (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). States in which biodiversity is encountered: Referring to the different states within the cycle of adaptive renovation (Resilience Alliance 2007; Matteucci 2004) in which a given ecological system is found and reflect its structure, composition and functioning. These states are: a. State of Maintenance: In this state ecosystems are characterized by going

through the time of greatest structural and functional complexity, when the system is most stable (but not static) and resistant to change. For example, a mature forest in a good state of conservation, which reached its “maturity” in terms of structure, composition and functioning, or an area which has undergone many years in a state of degradation and where it was necessary to carry out actions to break that state of stability. In the cycle of ecological succession this is the state in which ecosystemic services are supplied with the greatest and best intensity, magnitude and frequency. b. State of collapse: state after a disturbance, when the structure, composition and/or functioning of the system change, liberating matter and energy. It is a phase in which there is a significant reduction in biomass, connectivity falls and the influence of exogenous factors increases. Though undesirable in themselves as effects of the system´s degradation when the changes are too big, these changes are opportunities for innovation and may lead those systems into desirable states through measures of management and control. c. State of Reorganization: state of recuperation after collapse. It is a state in which the structure and composition of the ecosystems/coverages change, through the initiation of ecological succession or the inclusion of new elements (species). In this state abundances and ecological relations change. In many cases it is the time when emerging ecosystems begin to appear (secondary vegetation and reforestations and very early restorations). d. State of Growth: state of growth and succession, that is, when the system has already reorganized itself after the disturbance, vegetal succession advances and incorporates secondary 115

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elements, biomass grows, the innovations made to the system are put to the test, connectivity increases, the influence of exogenous factors declines, short-term predictive capacity grows, and the system becomes more rigid at the same time that its vulnerability to exogenous and stochastic events increases. Sustainable Use: Human use of an ecosystem with the aim that it may produce a benefit for present generations and at the same time maintain its potential for satisfying the needs and aspirations of future generations (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Synthesized product: Substance obtained through an artificial process on the basis of genetic information or from other biological molecules. Includes the semi-processed extracts and substances obtained through the transformation of a derived product by means of an artificial process (hemi-synthesis). System: A combination of elements which interact to form a more complex entity.

of native forest are included in this category. b. Enrichments: Planting native species in more advanced stages of vegetal succession in areas which provide connectivity on the scale of the landscape and which have been naturally recovering due to isolation or abandonment. c. Live vegetative barriers: Strips of vegetation, a few meters wide, of variable width, with many strata and a mixed composition of forest species which increase the diversity of the landscape. d. Isolation of fragments of native forest: Enclosure with a wire fence of fragments of native forest which already exist in the landscape, to protect them being thinned out or invaded by cattle and thus allow for natural regeneration. e. Protective reforestation, agro-forestry systems: The combination in time and space of tree species with agricultural crops or cattle-rearing, with the aim of harmoniously integrating agricultural/ stock-rearing activities with forestry ones in order to guarantee the sustainability of the productive system.

Thresholds of stability and/or change: Critical values or ranges of a given social or ecological variable which the system keeps within during a given phase or state, or which, when they are surpassed, lead the whole system to rapidly and abruptly change from one state to another, different one where the magnitude, intensity and frequency of the supplied ecosystemic Trade-off: Relation between variables services change. which arises when the extraction and use of an ecosystemic service has a negative impact on the benefit Tools for management of the landscape: which may be obtained from another ecosystemic Choice of the kinds of changes that will be introduced service (Neville et al. 2010). into the landscape to achieve the desired changes, such as increasing the coverage of forests, connectivity and Uncertainty: An expression of the the conservation of water resources and biodiversity. degree to which a future condition (for example, of Different kinds can be identified: an ecosystem) is unknown. Uncertainty results from lack of information or disagreement on what is known a. Biological corridors: Areas of native or will be known. Uncertainty may be represented forest of a variable length and width by quantitative measurements (e.g. a series of values which are constructed through jobs estimated by diverse models) or qualitative ones (e.g. of ecological restoration based on reflecting the judgment of a group of experts) (Millensecondary succession. In these, one nium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). seeks to imitate the structure and composition of native forests in accorVulnerability: Result of the intrinsic dance with an ecosystem that serves as characteristics of the objects of conservation which a reference point. Activities to enlarge make them more or less susceptible to disappearance, the area of already existing fragments deterioration or other effects. (IAvH, Glossary of terms). 116

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ANNEX 1 –DIAGRAM OF THE RELATIONS FOR THE ACTION OF THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY, ON A NATIONAL SCALE

NATIONAL POLICY FOR THE INTEGRAL MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND ITS ECOSYSTEMIC SERVICES NPIMBES (PNGIBSE)

ANNEX 3 – PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS We present, as follows, a list of the institutions which participated in the process of revising and adjusting the National Policy for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystemic Services (2008 – 2011)